Effects of Night Work on the Immune Function

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

To investigate the effects of shift work on immune parameters, such as lymphocyte subpopulations and natural killer cell activity, 105 nurses (28 males and 77 females) were studied. Blood samples of shift workers were collected from shift workers on two consecutive mornings. The first day's sampling was carried out in the morning just before the daytime shift, and sampling of the second day was carried out at the end of the night shift. For fixed daytime workers, blood samples were taken twice in the morning.(1)No significant differences were observed between shift workers and fixed day workers in the proportion of circulating lymphocyte subsets and NK cell activity from samples taken in the morning of the daytime work.(2)Shift workers exhibited higher level of the proportion of CD3 and CD4 in the morning after night time shift than daytime shift. NK cell activity and proportion of NK cells in the morning after night shift were lower than those in the morning of daytime shift. Female shift workers exhibited greater changes in CD4, 0D8, and CD16+56+ than male shift workers. Smokers showed greater changes in CD4 and CD 16+56+ than non-smokers. Fatigue feeling after night work related with an increase in the proportion of CD4 but with other immune parameters.(3)The difference of shift schedule before night shift did not show any difference in lymphocyte subsets and fatigue level.(4)The changes of immune function between daytime work and night work were larger in women than men. Smoking and fatigue related to immune function.These results suggest that night work has short term effects on diurnal rhythm of immune function. Even if these changes of immune function are limited to acute phase, repetition of modification of ordinal circadian rhythm of immune function might have long-term effects.