Concurrent trajectories of self-rated health and working hour patterns in health care shift workers: A longitudinal analysis with 8-year follow-up

BackgroundThe association between health and working hours is hypothesized to be reciprocal, but few longitudinal studies have examined changes in both health and working hour patterns over time. We examined combined trajectories of self-related health and two working hour patterns (working <35 h/week and working night shifts) and the extent to which these trajectories were predicted by employees' lifestyle and mental health. MethodsParticipants of this cohort study with a 8-year follow-up were 5,947 health care shift workers. We linked self-reports of health from three repeated surveys with objective pay-roll based data on working hours. Using group-based multi-trajectory analysis we identified concurrent trajectories for self-rated health and working hour patterns. We examined their associations with baseline lifestyle-related factors (smoking, at-risk alcohol use, obesity, and physical inactivity) and mental health (sleep problems and psychological distress) using multinomial regression analysis. ResultsThree combined trajectories of self-rated health and working ConclusionTrajectories of suboptimal and declining health are associated with trajectories of reducing working hours and leaving night work, and are more common in employees with unhealthy lifestyle, sleep problems, and psychological distress.