title: Association of Job Strain With Cortisol and Alpha-Amylase Among Shift-Working Health Care Professionals in Laboratory and Field.
abstract: Although the prevalence of work-related stress has increased, knowledge on the contributions of that stress to long-term adverse health effects is still lacking. Stress biomarkers can reveal early signs of negative health effects, but no previous studies have measured both acute stress reactions and long-term exposure to job strain using both salivary cortisol and α-amylase (AA). The present study examines the association between job strain and these biomarkers among shift-working female health care professionals in the laboratory and the field. The 95 participants were recruited from hospital wards categorized in either the top (high job strain [HJS] group, n = 42) or the bottom quartile of job strain (low job strain [LJS] group, n = 53), as rated by survey responses. Participants' self-perceived job strain was at least as high or low as the ward's average estimation. Saliva samples were collected during the Trier Social Stress Test (TSST), preselected morning and night shifts, and a day off. There was a larger increase in the cortisol concentration of participants in the HJS than in the LJS group (2.27- vs. 1.48-fold, respectively, nonsignificant) during the TSST. Participants in the HJS group also had higher salivary AA levels 30 min after awakening on the morning-shift day than those in the LJS group (p = .02), whereas the salivary cortisol awakening response on the day off was higher in the LJS group (p = .05, education as a covariate). The remaining stress-biomarker results did not differ significantly between groups. These data suggest that HJS in shift-working health care professionals is weakly associated with changes in stress biomarkers.
authors.affiliation: Development of Work and Organizations, Finnish Institute of Occupational Health, Helsinki, Finland Institute of Behavioural Sciences, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland kati.karhula@ttl.fi.
authors.forename: Kati
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Karhula
authors.affiliation: Development of Work and Organizations, Finnish Institute of Occupational Health, Helsinki, Finland.
authors.forename: Mikko
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Härmä
authors.affiliation: Development of Work and Organizations, Finnish Institute of Occupational Health, Helsinki, Finland Agora Center, University of Jyväskylä, Jyväskylä, Finland.
authors.forename: Mikael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sallinen
authors.affiliation: Health and Work Ability, Finnish Institute of Occupational Health, Helsinki, Finland.
authors.forename: Harri
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Lindholm
authors.affiliation: Health and Work Ability, Finnish Institute of Occupational Health, Helsinki, Finland.
authors.forename: Ari
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hirvonen
authors.affiliation: National Institute of Health and Welfare, Helsinki, Finland.
authors.forename: Marko
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Elovainio
authors.affiliation: Development of Work and Organizations, Finnish Institute of Occupational Health, Helsinki, Finland Institute of Behavioural Sciences, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, University College London, London, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Mika
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kivimäki
authors.affiliation: Development of Work and Organizations, Finnish Institute of Occupational Health, Turku, Finland Department of Public Health, University of Turku and Turku University Hospital, Turku, Finland.
authors.forename: Jussi
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Vahtera
authors.affiliation: Development of Work and Organizations, Finnish Institute of Occupational Health, Helsinki, Finland Institute of Behavioural Sciences, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland.
authors.forename: Sampsa
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Puttonen
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000032:analysis*; D005260:Female; D005387:Finland; D006282:Health Personnel; D006801:Humans; D006854:Hydrocortisone / Q000032:analysis*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012463:Saliva / Q000737:chemistry; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000503:physiopathology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014940:Work Schedule Tolerance / Q000502:physiology* / Q000523:psychology*; D000516:alpha-Amylases / Q000032:analysis*
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D000516:alpha-Amylases; D006854:Hydrocortisone
keywords: night-shift work; nursing; stress biomarkers; work-related stress