title: How do different definitions of night shift affect the exposure assessment of night work?
abstract: The aim is to show how different definitions affect the proportion of shifts classified as night shifts. The Danish Working Hour Database was used to calculate number of night shifts according to eight definitions. More than 98% of the total night shifts were night shifts by use of both the reference definition (at least 3 h of work between 24:00 and 05:00) and definitions using a period during the night. The overlap with definitions based on starting and ending time was less pronounced (64-71 %). The proportion of classified night shifts differs little when night shifts are based on definitions including a period during the night. Studies based on other definitions may be less comparable.
authors.affiliation: a National Research Centre for the Working Environment , Copenhagen , Denmark.|b Department of Public Health , University of Copenhagen , Copenhagen , Denmark.
authors.forename: Anne Helene
authors.initials: AH
authors.lastname: Garde
authors.affiliation: c Research Center , The Danish Cancer Society , Copenhagen , Denmark.
authors.forename: Johnni
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Hansen
authors.affiliation: d Department of Occupational Medicine, Danish Ramazini Centre , Aarhus University Hospital , Aarhus , Denmark.
authors.forename: Henrik A
authors.initials: HA
authors.lastname: Kolstad
authors.affiliation: a National Research Centre for the Working Environment , Copenhagen , Denmark.
authors.forename: Ann Dyreborg
authors.initials: AD
authors.lastname: Larsen
authors.affiliation: a National Research Centre for the Working Environment , Copenhagen , Denmark.|b Department of Public Health , University of Copenhagen , Copenhagen , Denmark.
authors.forename: Åse Marie
authors.initials: ÅM
authors.lastname: Hansen
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology; D002940:Circadian Rhythm / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008027:Light; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012890:Sleep / Q000502:physiology*; D013997:Time Factors; D014940:Work Schedule Tolerance / Q000502:physiology*
keywords: Shift work; night work; pay-roll data