SynthesisInternational archives of occupational and environmental health2016
The effect of the number of consecutive night shifts on diurnal rhythms in cortisol, melatonin and heart rate variability (HRV): a systematic review of field studies.
Synthesis in International archives of occupational and environmental health, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 26 papers.
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Who cites it
26 citing papers in PubMed.
- The 1001 nights-cohort - paving the way for future research on working hours, night work, circadian disruption, sleep, and health.European journal of epidemiology · 2025Article
- Social disadvantage is associated with impaired increase in salivary diurnal melatonin amplitude throughout pregnancy.Sleep advances : a journal of the Sleep Research Society · 2025Article
- Association between heart rate variability and ECG changes in on-duty prehospital physicians.Frontiers in physiology · 2025Article
- Sleep duration and quality in permanent night work: an observational field study.International archives of occupational and environmental health · 2024Observational
- Guideline for the application of heart rate and heart rate variability in occupational medicine and occupational health science.Journal of occupational medicine and toxicology (London, England) · 2024Review
- Move the night way: how can physical activity facilitate adaptation to shift work?Communications biology · 2024Review
- Circadian Adaptation of Melatonin and Cortisol in Police Officers Working Rotating Shifts.Journal of biological rhythms · 2024Article
- Update: factors influencing heart rate variability-a narrative review.Frontiers in physiology · 2024Review
- Prevalence of Reproductive Health Issues among US Female Law Enforcement Officers.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
- Morphofunctional State and Circadian Rhythms of the Liver of Female Rats under the Influence of Chronic Alcohol Intoxication and Constant Lighting.International journal of molecular sciences · 2022Article
- Night and shift work characteristics and incident ischemic heart disease and atrial fibrillation among healthcare employees - a prospective cohort study.Scandinavian journal of work, environment & health · 2022Article
- Night work, chronotype and cortisol at awakening in female hospital employees.Scientific reports · 2022Article
- Shift and night work during pregnancy and preterm birth-a cohort study of Swedish health care employees.International journal of epidemiology · 2022Article
- Night and shift work and incidence of cerebrovascular disease - a prospective cohort study of healthcare employees in Stockholm.Scandinavian journal of work, environment & health · 2022Article
- The acute effects of working time patterns on fatigue and sleep quality using daily measurements of 6195 observations among 223 shift workers.Scandinavian journal of work, environment & health · 2021Article
- Chronotype-specific Sleep in Two Versus Four Consecutive Shifts.Journal of biological rhythms · 2021Article
- The potential of using hair cortisol to measure chronic stress in occupational healthcare; a scoping review.Journal of occupational health · 2021Article
- A Blue-Enriched, Increased Intensity Light Intervention to Improve Alertness and Performance in Rotating Night Shift Workers in an Operational Setting.Nature and science of sleep · 2021Article
- Heart rate variability and hematological parameters in pregnant women.Journal of clinical laboratory analysis · 2020Article
- Pain complaints are associated with quick returns and insomnia among Norwegian nurses, but do not differ between shift workers and day only workers.International archives of occupational and environmental health · 2020Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
purposeThe purpose of this review is to summarize the current knowledge from field studies on how many consecutive night shifts are required for adaptation of diurnal rhythms in cortisol, melatonin and heart rate variability (HRV) to night work.
methodsA systematic search of the databases PubMed and Web of Science resulted in 18 studies selected for review.
resultsCortisol was measured in five studies, melatonin in 11 studies and HRV in four studies. Diurnal rhythms were assessed by use of several different measures based on three to eight samples per day for cortisol and melatonin and 24-h recordings for HRV. Most of the studies in the review were small studies with less than 30 participants, and most studies evaluated diurnal rhythms after only two consecutive night shifts whereas only six studies used seven or more consecutive night shifts. The majority of studies found that adaptation to night work had not occurred after two consecutive night shifts, whereas a small number found evidence for full adaptation after seven consecutive night shifts based on diurnal rhythms in cortisol and melatonin.
conclusionThere are methodological differences in the field studies analyzing diurnal rhythms and large diversity in the occupational fields studied. Nevertheless, we conclude that diurnal rhythms in cortisol, melatonin and HRV are not adapted to night work after 1-3 consecutive night shifts. Studies are needed to establish how many consecutive night shifts are needed for full adaptation of diurnal rhythms to night work.
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