Objectives This study examined the effects of rotating shift work on blood pressure in a comparison of ambulatory blood pressure and long-term changes in blood pressure between shift and day workers.

Methods Ambulatory blood pressure was measured for 24-hour periods at an interval of 30 minutes for 27 shift workers and 26 day workers when they worked during the day. Blood pressure was compared between these 2 groups of workers for 4 time categories (awake, sleep, nonwork awake, and work periods). Their long-term blood pressures, recorded in annual surveys, were reviewed for long-term changes. These comparisons were adjusted for the effects of body mass index, alcohol intake, anger expression, and physical activity.

Results On the average, sleep time was shorter and the anger-in (ie, anger suppressed) score was higher for the shift workers than for the day workers, but body mass index and alcohol intake did not differ between the 2 groups. Even after adjustment for these co-variables, the mean systolic blood pressure during the 24-hour, awake, and work periods were higher among the shift workers than among the day workers. The 24-hour standard deviations of the systolic blood pressures were also higher for the shift workers than for the day workers. Among the shift workers, but not among the day workers, a significant long-term increase was observed in systolic blood pressure measured in the annual surveys.

Conclusions These results suggest that shift work may increase systolic blood pressure levels among Japanese men.

Key terms anger expression; blood pressure monitoring; circadian rhythm; shift worker; sleep