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U, Stephanie Rose

University of British Columbia

Background: Understanding the mechanisms underlying the associations between night shift work and increased risks of chronic disease is key to developing effective measures to protect the long-term health of night shift workers. A compelling yet understudied mechanism is accelerated biological aging. Methods: In a cross-sectional study of 112 female night shift workers, 88 female day shift workers, and 136 male night shift workers, genome wide DNA methylation data were used to calculate five measures of epigenetic age, including Hannum, Horvath, GrimAge, PhenoAge, and DunedinPACE. For each measure, except DunedinPACE, which is the ratio of epigenetic age to chronological age, deviations from chronological age were calculated as measures of epigenetic age acceleration (HannumAA, HorvathAA, GrimAA, PhenoAA). Using linear regression models, the age acceleration measures were compared between female night shift and day shift workers. In additional analyses that were restricted to night shift workers, we also evaluated associations of sleep duration, as measured by actigraphy, with the measures of epigenetic age acceleration. Results: When comparing female night shift to female day shift workers, a statistically significant 0.81-year increase (95% CI: 0.22-1.4, p=0.007) in GrimAA and a statistically significant increase of 0.03 years epigenetic age per year of chronological age (95% CI: 0.004-0.05, p=0.02) as measured with DuendinPACE, were observed. As compared to sleeping ≥5 hours per night, sleeping <5 hours per night was associated with a statistically significant increase of 0.04 years in epigenetic age per year of chronological age (95% CI: 0.013–1.067, p=0.003) as measured with DunedinPACE. Conclusion: Our findings suggest that, as compared to day shift workers, night shift workers experience epigenetic age acceleration. In addition, our findings suggest that, among night shift workers, shorter day sleep durations may contribute to increased epigenetic age acceleration. Future larger-scale longitudinal studies are needed to confirm these findings and identify how the various aspects of night shift work, such as sleep disruption, contribute to the occurrence of epigenetic age acceleration.

Text

2024-10-02

Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International

http://hdl.handle.net/2429/89324

Population and Public Health

University of British Columbia

UBCV

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/