Relationship between Sleep and Subjective Fatigue in Rotating Shift Nurses: Validation Using a Wearable Device

摘要

style="text-align:justify;"> style="font-size:10pt;font-family:"">The objective of this study was to determine if sleep indicators are associated with subjective fatigue in nurses working in a rotating, two-shift system with a 16-hour night shift, using the wearable device Fitbit One. Subjective fatigue was evaluated using the Subjective Fatigue Symptom Questionnaire (SFSQ), a rating scale developed by the Working Group for Occupational Fatigue of the Japan Society for Occupational Health. Subjects were asked to continuously wear a Fitbit One to obtain the following data: time in bed (TIB), deep sleep time, length and frequency of nighttime awakening, sleep efficiency, waking time, and bed time. Nurses had a mean age and standard deviation of 33.2 style="font-size:10pt;font-family:""> style="font-size:10pt;font-family:"">± style="font-size:10pt;font-family:""> style="font-size:10pt;font-family:"">7.5 years and had worked as nurses for 9.8 style="font-size:10pt;font-family:""> style="font-size:10pt;font-family:"">± style="font-size:10pt;font-family:""> style="font-size:10pt;font-family:"">6.2 years on average. Eight nurses were in their 20s (42.1%), 5 in their 30s (26.3%), and 6 in their 40s (31.6 style="font-size:10pt;font-family:"">% style="font-size:10pt;font-family:"">). All participants were female. Participants style="font-size:10pt;font-family:"">’ style="font-size:10pt;font-family:""> SFSQ scores calculated from the 9 evenings in the study period were averaged to establish a threshold for categorizing high-fatigue (HF) and low-fatigue (LF) groups. style="font-size:10pt;font-family:""> style="font-size:10pt;font-family:"">No significant differences were found between HF and LF nurses in terms of TIB, deep sleep time, nighttime awakening time or frequency, or sleep efficiency on any type of day (as classified by shift, day off, etc.). Nurses in both groups woke up significantly later on days off and on pre-night-shift days style="font-size:10pt;font-family:"">than on day-shift days. These results demonstrate the variation in sleep patterns of nurses on a rotating, two-shift system between day-shift and night-shift days.