Table 3.
Characteristics of night shift work reported by 3270 night shift workers in EPIC-Oxford
| Ever night shifts | Total night shift work duration† |
|||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| <10 y | 10–20 y | ≥20 y | ||
| Characteristics of night shift work* | (n = 3270) | (n = 1819) | (n = 705) | (n = 461) |
| Night shift workers with rotating shifts, No. (%) | 1380 (48.4) | 838 (51.3) | 289 (46.2) | 147 (38.1) |
| Night shift workers with permanent night shifts, No. (%) | 621 (21.8) | 367 (22.4) | 122 (19.5) | 87 (22.5) |
| Night shift workers with flexible/irregular night shifts, No. (%) | 853 (29.9) | 430 (26.3) | 214 (34.2) | 152 (39.4) |
| Night shift work for >5 nights/month, No. (%) | 1928 (68.0) | 1135 (69.4) | 412 (66.9) | 241 (62.6) |
| Mean night shifts/month (SD) | 8.8 (5.9) | 9.3 (6.1) | 8.1 (5.2) | 8.0 (5.4) |
| Mean hours per night shift (SD) | 10.2 (2.7) | 10.1 (2.6) | 10.2 (2.9) | 10.3 (3.1) |
| Mean age first worked night shifts (SD) | 28.6 (10.2) | 28.4 (10.7) | 29.3 (9.5) | 29.2 (9.1) |
| Mean total years of night shift work (SD) | 9.5 (8.5) | 4.1 (2.2) | 12.8 (2.8) | 26.0 (6.0) |
| Night shift workers who reported specific occupations, No.§ | 2982 | 1703 | 647 | 412 |
| Nurses, No. (%) | 1444 (48.4) | 814 (47.8) | 314 (48.5) | 198 (48.1) |
| Other health care‡, No. (%) | 438 (14.7) | 193 (11.3) | 113 (17.4) | 102 (24.8) |
| Social care, No. (%) | 334 (11.2) | 218 (12.8) | 60 (9.3) | 30 (7.3) |
| Emergency services, No. (%) | 116 (3.9) | 53 (3.1) | 36 (5.6) | 21 (5.1) |
| Hospitality, No. (%) | 108 (3.6) | 59 (3.5) | 25 (3.9) | 15 (3.6) |
| Air/flight, No. (%) | 76 (2.5) | 46 (2.7) | 14 (2.2) | 13 (3.2) |
| Tele/radar/wireless, No. (%) | 58 (1.9) | 36 (2.1) | 14 (2.2) | 3 (0.7) |
| Retail, No. (%) | 54 (1.8) | 36 (2.1) | 13 (2.0) | 1 (0.2) |
| Other, No. (%) | 354 (11.9) | 248 (14.5) | 59 (9.1) | 29 (7.1) |
*Values relate to the night job of longest duration, where known.
†Duration of night shift work was unknown for 285 night shift workers.
‡Other health care workers include medical doctors, midwives, and radiographers.
§The percentages below use these numbers as the denominator.