Shift Work Effect on the Number of Sick Leave among Steel Industry Staffs: A Large Cross-Sectional Study

Background: Sick leave is one of the important areas inHealth Professional. Since various unknown factors may be result in sick leave, shift work can be considered as one of the effective factors on the number of sick leave in occupational Medicine. Objectives: This study aimed to consider the effect of shift work on the number of sick leave among steel industry staffs. Methods: This cross-sectional study is carried out on Esfahan’s Mobarakeh Steel Company (EMSC) staffs in 2016 using census sampling method. Results: A total number of 21168 staffs with mean age of 39.96years were entered in this study. 14248 staffs (67.3%) were shift workers. Our results revealed that shift working is significantly correlated with cardiovascular diseases (OR=1.891; p 0.001), leukemia (OR=2.29; p=0.039), respiratory problems (OR=1.29, p 0.001), infectious diseases (OR=1.55, p 0.001), mental disorders (OR=1.658, p 0.001), and poisonings (OR=0.724, p 0.001). Conclusion: Shift workers are more susceptible to different diseases and subsequently they use higher number of sick leave. Therefore, preventive decisions are needed to reduce the negative effects of shift work.