Association between glycemic control and shift working among healthcare workers with diabetes, Dammam, Saudi Arabia: Five years’ experience

OBJECTIVES: To delineate the relation between shift work and glycemic control among the healthcare workers (HCWs) with diabetes mellitus (DM) in the hospitals of Dammam, Saudi Arabia. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted among HCWs with DM working in 3 hospitals in Dammam, Saudi Arabia, from November 2018 to January 2019. The study participants answered a self-administered questionnaire related to sociodemographic data, work-related questions, diabetes-related questions, the latest hemoglobin A1C test outcome, and self-management activities. The Chi-square and t-test were used to determine the association between the risk factor of glycemic control and shift work. RESULTS: The HCW’s ages ranged from 24-60 years. The mean age of the employees in the day shift was 42.4±7.7 years and night shift was 42.1±7.3 years. The significant difference between daytime workers and shift workers was observed in terms of occupation, and obesity. Day shift employees reported being significantly more physically active than shift workers. The daily day shift led the employee to miss their routine clinic visits for DM. Shift workers had more weight gain due to unhealthy food intake, sleep deprivation, and improper physical activity when compared with daytime employees. Anti-clockwise shift rotation significantly demonstrated that 92.9% of employees developed uncontrolled DM. CONCLUSION: Glycemic control was worsened among the shift worker with DM compared to daytime workers.