Yasukouchi H, Wada S, Urasaki E, Yokota A
Department of Neurosurgery, School of Medicine, University of Occupational and Environmental Health, Kitakyushu, Japan.
J UOEH. 1995 Dec 1;17(4):229-46. doi: 10.7888/juoeh.17.229.
To estimate the effects of night work on the human cognitive function, P300 event related potentials (ERPs) evoked with an auditory "oddball" paradigm were recorded for 17 nurses (mean age 27.4 +/- 6.1 years; range 21-41 years) for 3 epochs; after a night of work, after a day of work and on a holiday, and for 12 elderly security guards (mean age 62.8 +/- 2.2 years; range 60-67 years) for 2 epochs; after a night of work and on a holiday. The Stress Arousal Check List (SACL) was used for all the subjects just prior to the P300 ERP recording to determine the extent of stress and the arousal grades. Fourteen of the nurses were in their twenties (mean age 24.9 +/- 2.6 years; range 21-29 years), and 3 (39.0 +/- 2.6) were older (36, 40 and 41 years). The 14 nurses were classed as the young group. All the security guards were classed as the elderly group. In the young group, the stress grade scores increased significantly (P < 0.05) and the arousal grades decreased significantly (P < 0.01) after night work as compared to the holiday values. Although statistically not significant, the amplitude of the P300 component tended to decrease after night work, whereas the latency was very stable for these 2 epochs. The P300 latencies of the 3 older nurses were as stable as those of the young group, but their amplitudes were significantly reduced after night work as compared with the holiday amplitudes (P < 0.05). In contrast, the 12 elderly security guards showed no statistically significant changes in the scores for the stress and arousal grades between the 2 epochs, after night work and holiday. Latency prolongation however, was statistically significant (P < 0.01) after night work. The P300 amplitudes for many of the elderly security guards also tended to decrease after night work, but were not statistically significant. The P300 amplitude is considered to reflect the amount of attentional resources and the latency to reflect the time needed for the cognitive process, indicating that the elderly security guards experiences slowing of the cognitive process in night work. Our results suggest that the effect of night work on the cognitive function is greater for elderly than for young workers. We conclude that P300 can be used to evaluate changes in the human cognitive function produced by night or rotating shift work and that the results provide useful information with which to plan shift schedules on the basis of worker age.
为评估夜班工作对人类认知功能的影响，采用听觉“oddball”范式诱发的P300事件相关电位（ERP），对17名护士（平均年龄27.4±6.1岁；范围21 - 41岁）进行了3个时段的记录，分别是在夜班工作一晚后、白班工作一天后和节假日；对12名老年保安（平均年龄62.8±2.2岁；范围60 - 67岁）进行了2个时段的记录，即夜班工作一晚后和节假日。在进行P300 ERP记录之前，所有受试者均使用应激唤醒检查表（SACL）来确定应激程度和唤醒等级。14名护士为二十多岁（平均年龄24.9±2.6岁；范围21 - 29岁），3名（39.0±2.6岁）年龄较大（36、40和41岁）。这14名护士被归为年轻组。所有保安被归为老年组。在年轻组中，与节假日相比，夜班工作后应激等级得分显著增加（P < 0.05），唤醒等级显著降低（P < 0.01）。虽然在统计学上不显著，但夜班工作后P300成分的波幅有降低趋势，而这两个时段的潜伏期非常稳定。3名年龄较大护士的P300潜伏期与年轻组一样稳定，但与节假日波幅相比，夜班工作后其波幅显著降低（P < 0.05）。相比之下，12名老年保安在夜班工作和节假日这两个时段之间，应激和唤醒等级得分没有统计学上的显著变化。然而，夜班工作后潜伏期延长具有统计学显著性（P < 0.01）。许多老年保安的P300波幅在夜班工作后也有降低趋势，但无统计学显著性。P300波幅被认为反映注意力资源的数量，潜伏期反映认知过程所需的时间，这表明老年保安在夜班工作中经历了认知过程的减慢。我们的结果表明，夜班工作对老年工人认知功能的影响比对年轻工人更大。我们得出结论，P300可用于评估夜班或轮班工作对人类认知功能产生的变化，且这些结果为根据工人年龄制定轮班时间表提供了有用信息。
