Shift Workers With Shift Work Disorder Have Worse Lower Urinary Tract Symptoms.

Objective: To examine the association between shift work or shift work disorder (SWD) and lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS). Nonstandard shift workers are defined as those working shifts outside of a normal 7 AM-6 PM work day.

Methods: Men presenting to a single andrology clinic between July 2014 and June 2017 completed questionnaires that included questions about work schedules, shift work status, SWD[1][1], personal well-being via the Patient Health Questionnaire-9, and LUTS (International Prostate Symptom Score [IPSS]). Men who had previously undergone prostate surgery were excluded. Shift work and SWD on IPSS was assessed via multivariate linear regression.

Results: Of the 2571 men who completed all questionnaires, 619 (24.1%) reported working nonstandard shifts in the past month. Of these, 196 (31.7%) had high risk of SWD as determined by a questionnaire. When controlling for age, medications, surgical intervention for benign prostatic hyperplasia, comorbidities, and testosterone (T) levels, nonstandard shift work overall was not associated with worse LUTS (P = .82). However, nonstandard shift workers at high risk for SWD had IPSS scores that were clinically significantly higher (3.74 points ± 0.57 standard error) than nonstandard shift workers without SWD (P <.0001).

Conclusion: Nonstandard shift workers at high risk for SWD have worse LUTS than those without SWD. However, no association between nonstandard shift work and LUTS was found.