Objectives The incidence of metabolic syndrome (MS) increases rapidly in China. Growing evidence suggests that alterations in circadian systems and sleep disorders have participated in the etiology of metabolic disorders. This study aims to investigate the relationship between night shift work and MS risk and examine the underlying mechanisms that have never been explored by previous epidemiological studies.

Method We are establishing a prospective night shift worker cohort in Shenzhen, China. More than 10 000 participants will be recruited and followed up. A standardized questionnaire is used to collect information on lifetime night shift work, light at night, occupational hazards, sleep disorders, etc. Fasting blood and spot urine samples are also collected for further usage. All participants will have the annual or biennial occupational physical examination. MS will be diagnosed following the NCEP-ATPIII criteria. Currently, we have recruited more than 4000 workers but most questionnaires have not yet been input.

Results We reported data from the occupational health examination. We obtained 3878 male workers and 250 female workers with a response rate of 95%. More than 50% participants are aged from 20–30 years. About 3.4% subjects’ fasting blood glucose was more than 6.1 mmol/L. More than 30% subjects are overweight, and 25% subjects’ is with high blood pressure.

Conclusions It is the basic characteristics of the recruited participants. The preliminary result of night shift work and MS will be present in the conference. [National Natural Science Foundation of China (Project number 81273172 and 81372964), Shelly@cuhk.edu.hk (Lap Ah Tse)]