The association between shift work and treatment-seeking migraine in Denmark

• Published in: Ergonomics Vol. 60; no. 9; pp. 1207 - 1217
• Main Authors: Jakobsen, Gitte Sofie, Timm, Anne Matilde, Hansen, Åse Marie, Garde, Anne Helene, Nabe-Nielsen, Kirsten
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Taylor & Francis 02-09-2017; Taylor & Francis LLC
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Cross-Sectional Studies; Cross-sections; Demographics; Denmark - epidemiology; Evening; Evening work; Female; Headache; Humans; Male; Middle Aged; Migraine; Migraine Disorders - epidemiology; Migraine Disorders - psychology; Migraine Disorders - therapy; Night; night work; Nighttime; Occupational Diseases - epidemiology; Occupational Diseases - psychology; Occupational Diseases - therapy; Odds Ratio; Patient Acceptance of Health Care - statistics & numerical data; Routines; selection; Shift work; Sleep; Space life sciences; Work Schedule Tolerance; Workers; Working conditions; Working hours; Young Adult; Denmark; headache; selection; Evening work; night work
• ISSN: 0014-0139; 1366-5847
• DOI: 10.1080/00140139.2016.1278463

In Europe, the one-year prevalence of migraine is 14.9% and migraine is on the top-10 list of leading causes of years lost to disability. Sleep disturbances and irregular daily routines are considered triggers of migraine and these factors are well-known consequences of shift work. We studied the association between treatment-seeking migraine and shift work, categorised as fixed evening work, fixed night work and variable working hours with and without night work in a Danish working population of 5872 participants. When compared with fixed day workers, only participants with fixed evening work were found to have significantly increased odds of reporting treatment-seeking migraine after adjustment for socio-demographic and behavioural covariates (OR = 1.56; 95% CI 1.05-2.32). Participants with seniority of 10 years or more notably accounted for this association. Due to the cross-sectional design, selection mechanisms may have biased the results.
Practitioner Summary: The study showed higher odds of treatment-seeking migraine among evening workers even when taking a range of potential confounders into account. Due to the cross-sectional design, we cannot draw any causal inferences, but potential mechanisms underlying the present study are discussed, with an emphasis on possible selection into evening work.