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Abstract
Objectives Shift work is associated with adverse effects on the health and lifestyle behaviours of employees. This study aimed to examine factors associated with adherence among shift workers to selected indicators of dietary and physical activity guidelines.
Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted on 1300 shift workers. Data were collected using a 15 minute telephone-administered questionnaire. Logistic regression methods were used for data analysis.
Results Male shift workers (p<0.001, OR=0.55, 95% CI 0.40 to 0.74) and those of lower socioeconomic status (p=0.046, OR=0.75, 95% CI 0.57 to 0.99) were significantly less likely to consume five or more daily servings of fruits and vegetables. Shift workers with access to workplace vending machines were significantly more likely to consume soft drinks at least weekly (p=0.003, OR=1.64, 95% CI 1.18 to 2.27). Middle-aged shift workers (p=0.012, OR=0.65, 95% CI 0.46 to 0.91) and those reporting insufficient break times at work (p=0.026, OR=0.69, 95% CI 0.49 to 0.96) were significantly less likely to be sufficiently active.
Conclusions Individual, work schedule and workplace environment related factors were independently associated with selected indicators of adherence to dietary and physical activity guidelines in this cohort of shift workers.
- dietary patterns
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Footnotes
Twitter @theirishbalance, @DrKirstyP
Contributors This study was a secondary analysis of data collected for a previous larger study commissioned by safefood entitled ‘Managing Food on Shift Work’. CC was the project lead for the original safefood study, in collaboration with JK and MBL. FN and KP contributed to data collection, analysis and interpretation for the original safefood study. CK and CC conceptualised the present study and its methodology. CK led the statistical analysis and data interpretation, and wrote the manuscript. CC supervised the present study and contributed to data analysis and interpretation, and the writing and critical review of the manuscript. VOB and MBL contributed to data interpretation and the critical review of the manuscript. FN, KP and JK contributed to the critical review of the manuscript. All authors read the manuscript, contributed comments to its revision, and have approved and agreed to the final version. CK submitted the manuscript and is responsible for the overall content as guarantor.
Funding The original study was supported by safefood, the Food Safety Promotion Board, under Grant No. (10–2013).
Competing interests None declared.
Patient consent for publication Not required.
Ethics approval An ethics exemption application was approved by the Taught Masters Research Ethics Committee (TM-REC) of the University College Dublin (UCD) School of Public Health, Physiotherapy and Sports Science on the basis of previously granted ethical approval for the original safefood study by the Dublin Institute of Technology (DIT) Research Ethics Committee in 2014 (Ethical Clearance Reference 14–09)—this application and approval from DIT were also reviewed and agreed by the Biomedical Sciences Ethics Committee of the University of Ulster (UU), Coleraine, Northern Ireland at the time. No new data were collected for this study.
Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.
Data availability statement All data relevant to the study are included in the article or uploaded as supplementary information.