Work schedules and fatigue: a prospective cohort study.

Area of Science:

• Occupational Health
• Chronobiology
• Epidemiology

Background:

• Fatigue is a common issue affecting employee well-being and productivity.
• Different work schedules, including day and various shift systems, may influence fatigue levels differently.
• Understanding the dynamics of fatigue across work schedules is crucial for workplace health interventions.

Purpose of the Study:

• To determine the prevalence of fatigue across day, three-shift, five-shift, and irregular shift work schedules.
• To examine the longitudinal relationship between work schedules and fatigue progression, considering job roles and characteristics.
• To investigate fatigue levels in shift workers who transition to day work.

Main Methods:

• Utilized data from the Maastricht Cohort Study on Fatigue at work, involving 12,095 participants.
• Employed nine self-administered questionnaires over 32 months of follow-up.
• Matched day and shift workers by job title to control for occupational factors.

Main Results:

• Prevalence of fatigue was 18.1% (day), 28.6% (three-shift), 23.7% (five-shift), and 19.1% (irregular shift).
• Three-shift and five-shift workers exhibited significantly higher baseline fatigue than day workers.
• No substantial differences in fatigue progression over 32 months were observed between work schedules, though fatigued five-shift workers showed faster fatigue reduction.

Conclusions:

• Significant initial differences in fatigue exist between day and shift workers, likely developing early in shift work employment.
• Fatigue may be a key factor prompting workers to leave shift work for day shifts.
• Perceived job characteristics appear to play a role in the relationship between work schedules and fatigue.