ReviewDeutsches Arzteblatt international2017
Night Work and the Risk of Depression.
Review in Deutsches Arzteblatt international, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to 2 registered trials, which are not on this map. Cited by 52 papers, 6 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Piloting an Adaption of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia for Shift Workers (CBTI-Shift)
Developing a Sleep Health Intervention for Shift Workers
Who cites it
52 citing papers in PubMed, 6 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 108 citations in OpenAlex.
- Identifying transdiagnostically relevant risk and protective factors for internalizing psychopathology: An umbrella review of longitudinal meta-analyses.Journal of psychiatric research · 2023Pooled it
- What do we know about the effect of night-shift work on cardiovascular risk factors? An umbrella review.Frontiers in public health · 2022Pooled it
- Pooled it
- Shift Work and Poor Mental Health: A Meta-Analysis of Longitudinal Studies.American journal of public health · 2019Pooled it
- Shift work and mental health: a systematic review and meta-analysis.International archives of occupational and environmental health · 2019Pooled it
- Healthy working time arrangements for healthcare personnel and patients: a systematic literature review.BMC health services research · 2019Pooled it
- Article
- Psychiatric comorbidity of depression and anxiety in medical trainees: prevalence and predictors in Ecuador.BMC psychiatry · 2026Article
- [Crisis as opportunity - The significance of crisis for moral development during medical training].Deutsche medizinische Wochenschrift (1946) · 2025Article
- Association between common mental disorders and sleep parameters measured by self-report and actigraphy in Brazilian female shift workers.Sleep and biological rhythms · 2025Article
- Article
- Comparison of depressive symptoms among emergency physicians and the general population in China: a cross-sectional study based on national data.Human resources for health · 2024Article
- What happens when the lights are left on? Transcriptomic and phenotypic habituation to light pollution.iScience · 2024Article
- Common mental disorders in Brazilian female shift workers: prevalence and associated factors.Archives of women's mental health · 2023Article
- Sleep Duration on Workdays Is Correlated with Subjective Workload and Subjective Impact of High Workload on Sleep in Young Healthy Adults.Brain sciences · 2023Article
- The Relationship between Working Night Shifts and Depression among Nurses: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Review
- Shift work is associated with extensively disordered sleep, especially when working nights.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2023Article
- Quality of working life of medical doctors and associated risk factors: a cross-sectional survey in public hospitals in China.BMJ open · 2022Article
- Depression in healthcare workers: Results from the nationwide AMADEUS survey.International journal of nursing studies · 2022Article
- Factors associated with symptoms of poor mental health among women factory workers in China's supply chain.International archives of occupational and environmental health · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
- Commented on by
Authors and funding
4 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundWorking the night shift interferes with the circadian chronobiological rhythm, causing sleep disturbances, fatigue, and diminished wellbeing, and increases the risk of serious disease. The question whether night work increases the risk of depression has not been adequately studied to date.
methodsWe carried out a systematic, broadly conceived literature search in the PubMed, Scopus, PsycINFO, and PSYNDEX databases and the Medpilot search portal on the topic of nighttime shift work and mental illness.
resultsThe search yielded 5682 hits, which were narrowed down by predefined selection criteria to 11 high-quality longitudinal studies on the relationship between nighttime shift work and depressive illness. Only these 11 studies were subjected to further analysis. 3 of 4 studies on nighttime shift work in the health professions (almost exclusively nursing) revealed no association with depression over an observation period of two years. On the other hand, 5 studies on nighttime shift work in occupations outside the health sector, with observation periods of two or more years, yielded evidence of an elevated risk of depression after several years of nighttime shift work, but not in any uniform pattern. A supplementary meta-analysis of 5 of the studies revealed a 42% increase of the risk of depression among persons working the night shift (95% confidence interval [0.92; 2.19]). Psychosocial working conditions that have a negative influence on health partially account for these associations.
conclusionAlthough there is evidence that nighttime shift work (at least, in occupations outside the health sector) does increase the risk of depression, this evidence is not strong enough to sustain a general medical recommendation against shift work for employees with depressive conditions. It would seem appropriate to address this question on an individual basis, with strong support from physicians and close attention to the deleterious psychosocial factors associated with shift work.
Indexed as
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.