How do different definitions of night shift affect the exposure assessment of night work?

ABSTRACT

The aim is to show how different definitions affect the proportion of shifts classified as night shifts. The Danish Working Hour Database was used to calculate number of night shifts according to eight definitions. More than 98% of the total night shifts were night shifts by use of both the reference definition (at least 3 h of work between 24:00 and 05:00) and definitions using a period during the night. The overlap with definitions based on starting and ending time was less pronounced (64–71 %). The proportion of classified night shifts differs little when night shifts are based on definitions including a period during the night. Studies based on other definitions may be less comparable.

KEYWORDS:

• Shift work
• pay-roll data
• night work

Declaration of interest

The authors report no conflicts of interest.