The Rate of Anemia in Shift Health Workers in a University Hospital

Objective: Shift work systems among healthcare professionals can potentially lead to physical and psychological disorders. Changes in eating habits, irregular nutrition, inadequate food intake may result in anemia. We aimed to examine the rate of anemia and related disorders among healthcare shift workers through a retrospective analysis. Methods: We included 132 volunteer healthy personnel working at the university. The survey questions consisting of descriptive information form and literature-based questions related to anemia prepared by using 'Google Forms were sent to the employees' phones. ROC analyses were conducted to evaluate the sensitivity and specificity of continuous variables related to shift work durations in indicating the presence of anemia. Results: Among the 132 participants, the number of individuals engaged in shift work exceeded that of the non-shift work group (80 versus 52). The rate of participants with anemia was 33.8% in shift workers and 42.3% in non-shift workers (p= 0.32). The incidence of anemia in females (53.3%) was significantly higher than in males (2.4%). In the ROC analysis for the presence of anemia, a cut-off value of 157 hours was determined for total shift work duration, with sensitivity and specificity rates of 43.8% and 41%, respectively (AUC: 0.380, CI: 0.277-0.482). It was observed that those with thyroid disease had a higher rate of anemia compared to those without (p=0.004). Conclusion: As males constituted the majority of shift workers, the ROC analysis suggested that the risk of anemia didn’t increase despite prolonged shift work duration.