The Association Between Shift Work And Affective Disorders: A Systematic Review

Abstract

Atypical working time patterns are known to be associated with adverse physical health consequences. The impact of chronic exposure to shift work on psychological wellbeing and mental health is also reported, but not fully appreciated. We conducted a systematic review of the literature on the association between shift work and affective disorders using the electronic databases Medline, PsycINFO, Embase, Web of Science and Google Scholar. Data extracted included detailed characteristics of shift work, the affective disorders under study, and the population targeted. Some 25 extracted articles satisfied all inclusion and exclusion criteria. Findings of these articles reveal shift work is associated with increases in depressive symptoms (12 studies), anxiety (2 studies), and depression and anxiety (7 studies). Only three studies found no association between shift work and depression. The findings of this review suggest that shift work increases the symptoms of depression and anxiety.

KEYWORDS:

• Shift Work
• Affective Disorders
• Mood Disorders
• Non-standard working hours
• Depression
• Anxiety
• Night Shift
• Rotating shifts
• Review

Competing interests

None declared.

Contributors

TDO and AA conceived the article. TDO and AA design of the study and both contributed to the search and extraction of studies and its analysis or interpretation. TDO and AA contributed to the production of the manuscript and approved submission.

Data sharing statement

No unpublished data is available following this study.

Patient consent

Not required.

Provenance and peer review

Not commissioned, externally peer reviewed.

Notes

¹ Information available from https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/labour-market/quality-of-employment/database

Additional information

Funding

This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.