The effect of night shift on sleep quality and depressive symptoms among Chinese nurses

Abstract

Caijun Dai,1,* Huihua Qiu,2,* Qiqi Huang,2,* Pinglang Hu,2 Xianchai Hong,2 Junwei Tu,1 Qiangli Xie,2 Haiyan Li,2 Wenwei Ren,2 Shuhong Ni,1 Fujian Chen3 1Jinhua Municipal Central Hospital, Jinhua 321000, China; 2The First Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou 325000, China; 3Anji County People’s Hospital, Huzhou 313300, China *These authors contributed equally to this work Purpose: Night shift is associated with adverse physical and psychological health outcomes such as poor sleep quality and depressive symptoms. We aimed to compare sleep quality as well as depressive symptoms in nurses working night shifts to those working day shifts only and explore the association between sleep quality and depressive symptoms among nurses. Patients and methods: Eight hundred sixty-five nurses were enrolled in the current study. Sleep quality and depressive symptoms among nurses were evaluated by the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) and Hospital Anxiety and Depressive Disorders Rating Scale (HADS), respectively. Results: PSQI and HADS scores were both significantly higher in the nurses working night shifts (P<0.05) than in those working day shifts only. Besides, there was a positive correlation between PSQI and HADS scores. Binary logistic regression showed that night shift and poor sleep quality were independent risk factors of depressive symptoms among nurses. Conclusion: Higher rates of depression among Chinese nurses working night shifts may be associated with poor sleep quality induced by night shift. Keywords: nurse, depression, night shift, sleep

Keywords

• Nurse
• Depression
• Night shift
• Sleep