ArticleJournal of occupational medicine and toxicology (London, England)2025
Impact of night shift work on telomere length and epigenetic age in older workers.
Article in Journal of occupational medicine and toxicology (London, England), 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
4 citing papers in PubMed.
- Reimagining Hospital Medicine for Long-Term Sustainability.Journal of general internal medicine · 2026Article
- Maternal biological ageing and telomere attrition across parity, pregnancy, and the postpartum period.Biogerontology · 2026Review
- Night shift work exposure shapes neurobehavioral and cardiometabolic profiles in female healthcare workers: a cross-sectional study.Frontiers in public health · 2026Article
- Night shift work and breast cancer: from etiopathology to precision risk analysis.NPJ breast cancer · 2025Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
11 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundNight shift work disrupts circadian rhythms and has been associated with various health disorders, particularly in older adults. Biological age indicators, such as telomere length (TL) and DNA methylation (DNAm) age, offer effective tools to assess early ageing-related changes Linked to occupational exposures. This study aims to investigate the association between night shift work and biological ageing markers among workers aged over 50 years.
methodsParticipants were classified as current, former, or never night shift workers. TL was measured via quantitative PCR, and DNAm age was estimated based on methylation at five CpG sites. Age acceleration (AA) was calculated as the residual from regressing DNAm age on chronological age. Associations between shift work and ageing markers were evaluated using univariate and multivariate analyses.
resultsOut of 330 workers invited, a total of 262 (response rate 79.6%) were recruited, predominantly male (87%) with a mean age of 54.5 ± 3.1 years. Current night shift workers exhibited significantly shorter telomeres compared to non-current shift workers (adjusted β = -0.07, p = 0.03). Among former shift workers, longer cumulative exposure was associated with reduced TL (β = -0.01, p = 0.004). Additionally, TL increased and AA decreased with each year since night shift cessation (β = 0.01, p=0.001 and β = -0.08, p=0.05, respectively).
conclusionsProlonged night shift work is associated with telomere shortening, suggesting increased cellular ageing, partially reversible after night-shift cessation. DNAm age appears less sensitive to recent or cumulative shift work exposure.
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Registered trials
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