Rotating Night Shift Work and Healthy Aging After 24 Years of Follow in the Nurses' Health Study

IMPORTANCE Rotating night shift work is associated with higher mortality. Whether it is also associated with overall health among those who survive to older ages remains unclear. OBJECTIVE To examine whether rotating night shift work is associated with healthy aging after 24 years of follow-up in the Nurses' Health Study, a cohort study among registered female nurses. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS For this cohort study, a composite healthy aging phenotype was ascertained among 46 318 participants who were aged 46 to 68 years and free of major chronic diseases in 1988 when the history of night shift work was assessed. In a secondary analysis in which cognitive function decline was considered in the healthy aging definition, 14 273 nurses were involved. Data were analyzed from March 1 to September 30, 2021. EXPOSURES Duration of rotating night shift work. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES Healthy aging was defined as reaching at least 70 years of age and beingfree of 11 major chronic diseases, memory impairment, physical limitation, or deteriorated mental health. RESULTS Of 46 318 female nurses (mean [SD] age at baseline, 55.4 [6.1] years), 3695 (8.0%) achieved healthy aging after 24 years of follow-up. After adjusting for established and potential confounders, compared with women who never worked rotating night shifts, the odds of achieving healthy aging decreased significantly with increasing duration of night shift work. The odds ratios were 0.96 (95% CI, 0.89-1.03) for 1 to 5 years, 0.92 (95% CI, 0.79-1.07) for 6 to 9 years, and 0.79 (95% CI, 0.69-0.91) for 10 or more years of night shift work (P = .001 for trend). This association did not differ substantially by age and lifestyles and was consistent for 4 individual dimensions of healthy aging. Results were similar in a secondary analysis, with an odds ratio of 0.73 (95% CI, 0.60-0.89; P < .001 for trend) comparing 10 or more years of night shift work vs no night shift work. CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE In this cohort study, rotating night shift work was associated with decreased probability of healthy aging among US female nurses. These data support the notion that excess night shift work is a significant health concern that may also lead to deteriorated overall health among older individuals.

Automated summary

In this 24-year study, rotating night shift work among US female nurses was found to be associated with a decreased probability of healthy aging. This finding suggests that excessive night shift work is a significant health concern that may lead to deteriorated overall health among older individuals.