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Shift Work, Night Work Increase Risk for Common Cold in Nurses

Medically reviewed by Carmen Pope, BPharm. Last updated on March 11, 2025.

By Lori Solomon and Meredith Farrell HealthDay Reporters

MONDAY, March 10, 2025 -- Shift work and night work are associated with an increased risk for the common cold and several other infections among nurses, according to a study published online March 10 in Chronobiology International.

Daniel Hartveit Hosøy, M.D., Ph.D., from Haukeland University Hospital in Bergen, Norway, and colleagues investigated possible associations between sleep duration, sleep debt, and shift work characteristics with self-reported infections. The analysis included 1,335 Norwegian nurses.

The researchers found that sleep debt (one to 120 minutes and more than two hours, respectively) was dose-dependently associated with an increased risk for the common cold (adjusted odds ratio [aOR], 1.33; 95 percent confidence interval [CI], 1.00 to 1.78; aOR, 2.32; 95 percent CI, 1.30 to 4.13), pneumonia/bronchitis (aOR, 2.29; 95 percent CI, 1.07 to 4.90; aOR, 3.88; 95 percent CI, 1.44 to 10.47), sinusitis (aOR, 2.08; 95 percent CI, 1.22 to 3.54; aOR, 2.58; 95 percent CI, 1.19 to 5.59), and gastrointestinal infection (aOR, 1.45; 95 percent CI, 1.00 to 2.11; aOR, 2.45; 95 percent CI, 1.39 to 4.31) compared with no sleep debt. Similarly, night work and number of night shifts (one to 20 versus zero nights) were associated with an increased risk for the common cold. Infections were not associated with sleep duration.

"To help reduce sleep debt and potentially lower infection risk in the future, nurses could benefit from maintaining consistent sleep schedules, while workplace strategies might include optimizing forward-rotating shifts, limiting consecutive night shifts, have days off after last night shift, and promoting the benefits of sleep," the authors write.

Abstract/Full Text

Disclaimer: Statistical data in medical articles provide general trends and do not pertain to individuals. Individual factors can vary greatly. Always seek personalized medical advice for individual healthcare decisions.

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Posted March 2025

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