Dynamic blood pressure changes and recovery under different work shifts in young women.

BACKGROUND

Some studies have reported that shift work can affect blood pressure (BP), but few have studied recovery from BP changes occurring during different shifts.

METHODS

We recruited 16 young female nurses working rotating shifts and six working the regular day shift. All received repeated ambulatory BP monitoring (ABPM) during their workdays and following day off.

RESULTS

Our linear mixed-effect model showed that both systolic and diastolic BPs were significantly decreased during sleeping period and significantly increased while on working period, on a work day, but increased during sleeping period after a night shift or evening shift. BP measurements that changed after evening shift usually returned to baseline on consecutive off-duty day after day shift, but they did not completely return to baseline after a night shift (P < 0.05). We also found 69% of those working rotating shifts had at least changed once in dipper/nondipper status. The rates of change in dipper/nondipper status between work day and off-duty day were 33, 44, 50, and 38% for nurses worked in outpatient clinic, night shift, evening shift, and day shift, respectively.

CONCLUSION

Shift work is significantly associated with BP and possibly dipper/nondipper status in young female nurses. Except for those working night shifts, BP levels returned to baseline the off-duty day after day shift. We recommend that potential influence of shift work be considered when evaluating a person's BP.