Descriptive characteristics of the study population
| Day work‡ | Three-shift | Five-shift | Irregular shift | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Significant difference with day work: **p<0.01; ***p<0.001. | ||||
| †Scale range. | ||||
| ‡Reference group for all three types of shift work. | ||||
| §Data available for shift workers only. | ||||
| n (number of organisations) | 4582 (45) | 729 (17) | 930 (10) | 321 (24) |
| Gender % female | 21.9 | 8.8*** | 5.3*** | 30.5*** |
| Age mean (SD) | 42.56 (8.88) | 35.77*** (8.59) | 37.94*** (8.59) | 37.90*** (8.72) |
| Highest educational level % | *** | *** | *** | |
| Primary school | 2.1 | 9.5 | 7.6 | 5.2 |
| Lower vocational | 7.4 | 40.7 | 30.0 | 26.2 |
| Lower secondary | 10.5 | 14.3 | 16.5 | 21.4 |
| Intermediate vocational | 19.3 | 26.2 | 33.8 | 33.0 |
| Secondary | 11.1 | 4.9 | 5.6 | 4.9 |
| Higher vocational | 32.6 | 4.2 | 5.5 | 9.1 |
| University | 17.0 | 0.2 | 1.0 | 0.2 |
| Employment history§ | ||||
| ≤5 y | 78.4 | 30.5 | 26.1 | |
| 6–10 y | 5.3 | 23.3 | 17.6 | |
| 11–15 y | 5.5 | 23.4 | 14.5 | |
| >15 y | 10.8 | 22.8 | 41.8 | |
| Physically demanding work % | 9.0 | 48.5*** | 33.4*** | 73.3*** |
| Psychological job demands (12–48)† (SD) | 32.87 (5.46) | 34.42*** (6.13) | 32.15** (5.68) | 34.52*** (5.85) |
| Decision latitude (24–96)† (SD) | 74.44 (10.02) | 65.08*** (13.62) | 68.11*** (11.47) | 68.11*** (11.64) |
| Emotional demands (0–5)† (SD) | 0.83 (1.09) | 1.53*** (1.44) | 1.17*** (1.23) | 1.93*** (1.42) |
| Long term disease % | 21.1 | 22.8 | 19.4 | 24.8 |
| Fatigue | ||||
| Mean (20–140)† (SD) | 54.87 (21.84) | 62.13*** (23.63) | 58.35*** (23.72) | 55.46 (22.11) |
| Cases % (CIS total score >76) | 18.1 | 28.6*** | 23.7*** | 19.1 |