Shift work and the risk of cardiovascular disease among workers in cocoa processing company, Tema

OBJECTIVE: Shift work has been implicated in cardiovascular disease (CVD), a major cause of death globally. The aim of this study was to evaluate the risk of developing CVD in shift work. DESIGN: A cross-sectional study involving secondary analysis of shift and non-shift work from an industry in Ghana. PARTICIPANTS: Two hundred (113 shift and 87 non-shift) consecutive workers who consented were recruited into the study. A structured questionnaire was administered to deduce information on participant’s age, alcohol consumption pattern, smoking habits, history of diabetes, stroke and hypertension. RESULTS: Shift workers were found to be associated with higher body mass index (26.9 ± 4.6 vs 25.2 ± 3.3, p = 0.013); fasting blood glucose (5.9 ± 1.8 vs 5.3 ± 0.8, p ≤ 0.0001); glycated haemoglobin (4.9 ± 0.9 vs 4.2 ± 0.8, p ≤ 0.0001); high sensitivity C-reactive protein (2.5 ± 1.1 vs 1.8 ± 1.1, p < 0.0001); total cholesterol (5.9 ± 1.3 vs 5.2 ± 1.7, p = 0.002); triglycerides (1.3 ± 0.8 vs 1.1 ± 0.6, p = 0.015) and LDL cholesterol (3.6 ± 0.9 vs 3.2 ± 1.3, p = 0.04) than controls. Shift work however, had no associations with HDL-cholesterol. CONCLUSION: It can be concluded that shift work is associated with risk factors of CVD. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s13104-015-1750-3) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.