Impact of Shift Work and Long Working Hours on Worker Cognitive Functions: Current Evidence and Future Research Needs
Particular working conditions and/or organization of working time may cause important sleep disturbances that have been proposed to be predictive of cognitive decline. In this regard, circadian rhythm misalignment induced by exposure to night work or long working hours would be responsible for cogni...
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doaj-07c528606fb2495988f74081d87f87f92021-07-01T00:27:31ZengMDPI AGInternational Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health1661-78271660-46012021-06-01186540654010.3390/ijerph18126540Impact of Shift Work and Long Working Hours on Worker Cognitive Functions: Current Evidence and Future Research NeedsVeruscka Leso0Luca Fontana1Angela Caturano2Ilaria Vetrani3Mauro Fedele4Ivo Iavicoli5Department of Public Health, Section of Occupational Medicine, University of Naples Federico II, 80131 Naples, ItalyDepartment of Public Health, Section of Occupational Medicine, University of Naples Federico II, 80131 Naples, ItalyDepartment of Public Health, Section of Occupational Medicine, University of Naples Federico II, 80131 Naples, ItalyDepartment of Public Health, Section of Occupational Medicine, University of Naples Federico II, 80131 Naples, ItalyDepartment of Public Health, Section of Occupational Medicine, University of Naples Federico II, 80131 Naples, ItalyDepartment of Public Health, Section of Occupational Medicine, University of Naples Federico II, 80131 Naples, ItalyParticular working conditions and/or organization of working time may cause important sleep disturbances that have been proposed to be predictive of cognitive decline. In this regard, circadian rhythm misalignment induced by exposure to night work or long working hours would be responsible for cognitive impairment. Nevertheless, evidence supporting this correlation is limited and several issues still need to be elucidated. In this regard, we conducted a systematic review to evaluate the association between shift/night work and cognitive impairment and address its main determinants. Information provided by the reviewed studies suggested that night work might have serious immediate negative effects especially on cognitive domains related to attention, memory and response inhibition. Furthermore, cognitive performance would progressively worsen over consecutive night shifts or following exposure to very long work shifts. Otherwise, conflicting results emerged regarding the possible etiological role that night work chronic exposure would have on cognitive impairment. Therefore, circadian rhythm desynchronization, lack of sleep and fatigue resulting from night work may negatively impact worker’s cognitive efficiency. However, in light of the considerable methodological variability of the reviewed studies, we proposed to develop a standardized research and evaluation strategy in order to obtain a better and comprehensive understanding of this topic.https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/12/6540shift worknight worklong working hourscognitive impairmentcircadian rhythmfatigue |
collection |
DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
Veruscka Leso Luca Fontana Angela Caturano Ilaria Vetrani Mauro Fedele Ivo Iavicoli |
spellingShingle |
Veruscka Leso Luca Fontana Angela Caturano Ilaria Vetrani Mauro Fedele Ivo Iavicoli Impact of Shift Work and Long Working Hours on Worker Cognitive Functions: Current Evidence and Future Research Needs International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health shift work night work long working hours cognitive impairment circadian rhythm fatigue |
author_facet |
Veruscka Leso Luca Fontana Angela Caturano Ilaria Vetrani Mauro Fedele Ivo Iavicoli |
author_sort |
Veruscka Leso |
title |
Impact of Shift Work and Long Working Hours on Worker Cognitive Functions: Current Evidence and Future Research Needs |
title_short |
Impact of Shift Work and Long Working Hours on Worker Cognitive Functions: Current Evidence and Future Research Needs |
title_full |
Impact of Shift Work and Long Working Hours on Worker Cognitive Functions: Current Evidence and Future Research Needs |
title_fullStr |
Impact of Shift Work and Long Working Hours on Worker Cognitive Functions: Current Evidence and Future Research Needs |
title_full_unstemmed |
Impact of Shift Work and Long Working Hours on Worker Cognitive Functions: Current Evidence and Future Research Needs |
title_sort |
impact of shift work and long working hours on worker cognitive functions: current evidence and future research needs |
publisher |
MDPI AG |
series |
International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health |
issn |
1661-7827 1660-4601 |
publishDate |
2021-06-01 |
description |
Particular working conditions and/or organization of working time may cause important sleep disturbances that have been proposed to be predictive of cognitive decline. In this regard, circadian rhythm misalignment induced by exposure to night work or long working hours would be responsible for cognitive impairment. Nevertheless, evidence supporting this correlation is limited and several issues still need to be elucidated. In this regard, we conducted a systematic review to evaluate the association between shift/night work and cognitive impairment and address its main determinants. Information provided by the reviewed studies suggested that night work might have serious immediate negative effects especially on cognitive domains related to attention, memory and response inhibition. Furthermore, cognitive performance would progressively worsen over consecutive night shifts or following exposure to very long work shifts. Otherwise, conflicting results emerged regarding the possible etiological role that night work chronic exposure would have on cognitive impairment. Therefore, circadian rhythm desynchronization, lack of sleep and fatigue resulting from night work may negatively impact worker’s cognitive efficiency. However, in light of the considerable methodological variability of the reviewed studies, we proposed to develop a standardized research and evaluation strategy in order to obtain a better and comprehensive understanding of this topic. |
topic |
shift work night work long working hours cognitive impairment circadian rhythm fatigue |
url |
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/12/6540 |
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