Long-term longitudinal study on the relationship between alternating shift work and the onset of diabetes mellitus in male Japanese workers.

Abstract

This study investigated the effect of alternating shift work (ASW) on the onset of diabetes mellitus in Japanese workers compared with onset in day-shift work (DSW). A longitudinal study was carried out on a DSW group (n = 3203) and ASW group (n = 2426) of a steel company who received their annual health checkups over a 10-year period between 1991 and 2001. The association between job schedule type and onset of diabetes mellitus (glycated hemoglobin A1c > or =6.0% or medication) was investigated by multivariate pooled logistic regression analyses. The odds ratio (95% confidence interval) for the development of diabetes mellitus in the ASW group compared with the DSW group was 1.35 (1.05-1.75). Our study revealed that the ASW is an independent risk factor for the onset of diabetes mellitus.