Shift workers suffer more ill health, says report

Shift workers are more likely to suffer ill health than those working standard hours, according to the Health Survey for England report.

The survey shows shift workers were more likely to report fair or bad general health (28 per cent of men and women) than non-shift workers (21 per cent of men and 23 per cent of women).

Shift workers were also more likely to have a limiting longstanding illness (25 per cent of men and 28 per cent of women) than non-shift workers (19 per cent of men and 24 per cent of women).

Shift workers were more likely to smoke and to eat fewer fruit and vegetables, although they were less likely to drink alcohol.

Shift working was most prevalent in the 16-24 age group and among men and declined with age for both men and women. Almost half of men and over a third of women aged 16-24 did shift work compared with fewer than a third of men and a fifth of women aged 55 and over. It was also highest in the more lower paid jobs.

Shift workers were more likely than non shift workers to have a limiting longstanding illness; they were also more likely to have more than one longstanding illness. Shift workers were more likely than non shift workers to be obese and men and women in shift work were more likely than non shift workers to have diabetes (10% of both men and women in shift work, compared with 9% and 7% respectively of those not working shifts).

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