Psych News Alert: Altered Eating Patterns in Shift Work Associated With Rates of Depression, Anxiety

Shift workers who have irregular eating patterns may have an increased risk of depression and anxiety, a study in JAMA Network Open has found.

Erliang Zhang, B.S., of Shanghai Jiao Tong University and colleagues examined data from 22,617 airline crew members aged 18-60 from the Civil Aviation Health Cohort of China, an ongoing health survey of pilots, flight attendants, and air security officers employed by major airlines in China. The researchers collected data on when the participants ate breakfast and dinner on workdays and rest days and how much time passed between their meals. Workdays in which participants had a flight takeoff before 9 a.m. were categorized as morning-shift days, while workdays in which a flight landed after 10 p.m. were categorized as night-shift days.

Overall, 7.8% of participants had symptoms of anxiety as measured by the seven-item Generalized Anxiety Disorder Assessment (GAD-7), and 12.2% had depressive symptoms as measured by the nine-item Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9).

After adjusting for demographics, the researchers found the following:

• Having dinner after 8 p.m. on morning-shift days was associated with increased odds of anxiety (adjusted odds ratio [AOR], 1.78) and depressive symptoms (AOR, 2.01), compared with consuming dinner before 8 p.m. Results were similar on night-shift days and rest days.
• Delayed dinner on morning-shift days (having the meal later than on typical rest days) was associated with increased odds of anxiety (AOR, 1.32) and depressive symptoms (AOR, 1.39). Delayed dinner was also associated with higher odds of anxiety (AOR, 1.22) and depressive symptoms (AOR, 1.21) on night-shift days.
• An eating window of less than 12 hours between breakfast and dinner was associated with reduced odds of anxiety (AOR, 0.84) and depressive symptoms (AOR, 0.81) on morning-shift days compared with an eating window of greater than 12 hours.

“These findings underscore the need for interventions and supportive policies that help mitigate the adverse implications of shiftwork and irregular working hours for mental health,” the researchers wrote. “Such interventions may promote the overall well-being of airline employees and benefit the broader society given that a healthy airline industry workforce is essential to the safety of billions of air travelers worldwide.”

(Image: Getty Images/iStock/mihailomilovanovic)

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