title: Comparison of menstrual disorders in hospital nursing staff according to shift work pattern.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To assess the association between work in a rotating shift schedule and menstruation characteristics among nurse staff in a prospective study.
  
  
  BACKGROUND
  Rotating shifts have been linked to alterations in the reproductive cycle. In the case of menstrual alterations, the conclusions are not clear.
  
  
  METHODS
  Prospective epidemiological study with follow-up over four months.
  
  
  METHODS
  All the female nurse staff (<40 years) in a hospital were interviewed, collecting sociodemographic and employment information. They were given a menstrual diary to keep a record of their shifts and characteristics of their menstruation (duration, amount of blood, dysmenorrhoea). They had two types of shifts: (1) Rotating shift schedule (two mornings, two afternoons, one night and two days off) including morning shifts (8:00-15:00), afternoon/evening shifts (15:00-22:00) and night shifts (22:00-8:00), and (2) Day shift schedule including morning shifts (8:00-15:00) and/or afternoon/evening shifts (15:00-22:00). The crude and adjusted odds ratios with 95% confidence interval were calculated using logistic generalised estimating equations (GEE) taking into account the correlations of multiple cycles per worker.
  
  
  RESULTS
  One hundred and thirteen workers on the rotating shift and 75 on the day shift participated, and information from 730 menstrual cycles were obtained. There were no differences in prolonged duration, dysmenorrhoea, prolonged duration dysmenorrhoea and excessive bleeding among nurses on rotating shift compared to those on the day shift. For prolonged duration of menstruation, workers with more than five years on the rotating shift showed a slightly lower (nonsignificant) risk compared with those with <5 years.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Nurse staff on the rotating shift did not show increased risk of having menstrual disorders comparing with day staff.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Shifts with short rotation cycles and a progressive sequence do not appear to cause menstrual disorders in nurse staff who work rotating shifts.
authors.affiliation: Department of Community Nursing, Preventive Medicine and Public Health and History of Science, University of Alicante, Alicante, Spain.
authors.forename: Josep Amílcar
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Albert-Sabater
authors.affiliation: MC Mutual, Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: José Miguel
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Martínez
authors.affiliation: Uni Research Health, Bergen, Norway.|Department of Global Public Health and Primary Care, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway.
authors.forename: Valborg
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Baste
authors.affiliation: Centre for International Health, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway.
authors.forename: Bente E
authors.initials: BE
authors.lastname: Moen
authors.affiliation: Department of Community Nursing, Preventive Medicine and Public Health and History of Science, University of Alicante, Alicante, Spain. Elena.Ronda@ua.es.
authors.forename: Elena
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Ronda-Perez
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008599:Menstruation Disturbances / Q000453:epidemiology*; D009741:Nursing Staff, Hospital; D010561:Personnel Staffing and Scheduling; D011446:Prospective Studies; D014940:Work Schedule Tolerance; D016526:Workload
keywords: health workers; menstrual disorders; reproductive health; shift work; work