Netherlands Cancer Institute, Department of Epidemiology, Plesmanlaan 121, 1066 CX Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
BMC Cancer. 2014 Jan 29;14:47. doi: 10.1186/1471-2407-14-47.
Evidence for the carcinogenicity of shift work in humans is limited because of significant heterogeneity of the results, thus more in-depth research in needed. The Nightingale Study is a nationwide prospective cohort study on occupational exposures and risks of chronic diseases among female nurses and focuses on the potential association between shift work and risk of breast cancer. The study design, methods, and baseline characteristics of the cohort are described.
METHODS/DESIGN: The source population for the cohort comprised 18 to 65 year old women who were registered as having completed training to be a nurse in the nationwide register for healthcare professionals in the Netherlands. Eligible women were invited to complete a web-based questionnaire including full job history, a detailed section on all domains of shift work (shift system, cumulative exposure, and shift intensity) and potential confounding factors, and an informed consent form for linkage with national (disease) registries. Women were also asked to donate toenail clippings as a source of DNA for genetic analyses. Between October 6, 2011 and February 1, 2012, 31% of the 192,931 women who were invited to participate completed the questionnaire, yielding a sample size of 59,947 cohort members. The mean age of the participants was 46.9 year (standard deviation 11.0 years). Toenail clippings were provided by 23,439 participants (39%).
Results from the Nightingale Study will contribute to the scientific evidence of potential shift work-related health risks among nurses and will help develop preventive measures and policy aimed at reducing these risks.
由于结果存在显著异质性，人类轮班工作致癌的证据有限，因此需要更深入的研究。Nightingale 研究是一项针对女性护士职业暴露和慢性病风险的全国前瞻性队列研究，重点关注轮班工作与乳腺癌风险之间的潜在关联。本研究描述了该队列的研究设计、方法和基线特征。
方法/设计：该队列的源人群包括年龄在 18 至 65 岁之间、在荷兰医疗保健专业人员全国登记处注册完成护士培训的女性。符合条件的女性被邀请完成一份基于网络的问卷，其中包括完整的工作史、关于轮班工作（轮班系统、累积暴露和轮班强度）和潜在混杂因素的详细部分，以及同意与国家（疾病）登记处进行链接的知情同意书。女性还被要求提供趾甲屑作为遗传分析的来源。在 2011 年 10 月 6 日至 2012 年 2 月 1 日期间，邀请了 192931 名女性参加，其中 31%的女性完成了问卷，产生了 59947 名队列成员的样本量。参与者的平均年龄为 46.9 岁（标准差 11.0 岁）。有 23439 名参与者（39%）提供了趾甲屑。
Nightingale 研究的结果将有助于为护士中潜在的轮班工作相关健康风险提供科学证据，并有助于制定旨在减少这些风险的预防措施和政策。
