Night work and quality of life. A study on the health of nurses.

Background: Job quality and evaluation of workers' health have both medical and social important implications. We studied health-related quality of life (HRQL) in nurses who perform their activity in night shifts.

Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted between October and November 2014. Nurses who attended night shift in the Siena Teaching Hospital (Azienda Ospedaliera Universitaria Senese - AOUS) were sampled using EpiInfo software (confidence interval 95%) and investigated using the SF-36 Questionnaire. Our results were compared with the Italian general population (Apolone, 1997). A Descriptive analysis was conducted. Wilcoxon test, Pearson coefficient, t-test, Wilcoxon signed-rank test and logistic regression were used for the statistical investigation.

Results: 197 questionnaires were analyzed. Females were 71.7%; mean age was 39.2 years (DS 8.6); smokers were 37.8%. Males scores were higher than those of females in all dimensions of physical and mental health (p <0.05). The time taken to reach the place of work appeared to influence the dimension of General Health (coeff. -0.17); we found a worsening of 0.17 points of this dimension for every minute spent in travel. Men and nurses with more working years had a better score in Physical Pain dimension. AOUS nurses scored significantly (p <0.05) less compared with the correspondent Italian general population in General Health, Energy-fatigue, Social functioning, Physical functioning and Bodily pain.

Conclusions: There is a significant relationship between night work and HRQL of nurses. The health profile of AOUS nurses' ranks below the values of the Italian general population in various dimensions.