Night shift work before and during pregnancy in relation to depression and anxiety in adolescent and young adult offspring

Abstract

We investigated the relationship between maternal history of nightshift work before and shift work during pregnancy and offspring risk of depression and anxiety, among mothers participating in the Nurses Health Study II and in their offspring enrolled in the Growing Up Today Study 2 between 2004 and 2013. Case definitions were based on offspring self-reports of physician/clinician-diagnosed depression and/or anxiety, regular antidepressant use and depressive symptoms assessed using the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale. Multivariable-adjusted odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were estimated using generalized estimating equation models. We found no associations between maternal nightshift work before pregnancy or during pregnancy and offspring mental health disorders (e.g., nightshift work before pregnancy: depression (based on physician/clinician diagnosis): OR ever nightwork = 1.14; 95% CI, 0.88–1.47; either depression or anxiety: OR ever nightwork = 0.93; 95% CI, 0.81–1.08; nightshift work during pregnancy: depression: OR ever nightwork = 1.14; 95% CI, 0.68–1.94; depression or anxiety: OR ever nightwork =1.17; 95% CI, 0.70–1.98) and no dose-response relationship with longer history of nightshift work (all P Trend >0.10). Stratifying by maternal chronotype revealed a higher risk of depression for offspring whose mothers worked nightshifts before pregnancy and reported being definite morning chronotypes (a proxy for circadian strain) (OR ever nightwork = 1.95; 95% CI, 1.17, 3.24 vs. OR ever nightwork = 0.93; 95% CI, 0.68, 1.28 for any other chronotype; P Interaction = 0.03). Further studies replicating our findings and refined understanding regarding the interplay of nightshift work and chronotype and its potential influences on offspring mental health are needed. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1007/s10654-019-00525-2) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Night shift work surrounding pregnancy and offspring risk of atopic disease

“…In particular, stress due to night work appears to reduce oxidative DNA damage repair capacity due to melatonin suppression [29]. Previous studies have additionally reported epigenetic alterations in individuals who work night shifts [30,31], suggesting the potential for transgenerational impacts [32,33]. Further, the stress experienced from circadian rhythm changes during night shift work could potentially induce changes in the intrauterine environment [34,35], and is a potential risk factor for elevated immunoglobulin E (IgE) in cord blood, suggesting increased inflammation and transmission of IgE to the child, and T-helper 1 (Th1)/ T-helper 2 (Th2) imbalances in the in utero environment, all of which could enable the development of atopic diseases [36][37][38].…”

Maternal Chronodisruption Throughout Pregnancy Impairs Glucose Homeostasis and Adipose Tissue Physiology in the Male Rat Offspring

“…Unfortunately, interpreting human studies during pregnancy is quite difficult, due to confusing scenarios imposed by the effects of food availability, electronic screen exposure, emotional support, and family life. Actually, new epidemiological studies add more evidence about the potential deleterious effects of gestational chronodisruption in human, although conducting studies with more controlled conditions is imperative (5,13,14).…”

The Future of Shift Work: Circadian Biology Meets Personalised Medicine and Behavioural Science

“…The acute difficulties arising from implementing customised shift schedule systems and suchlike may be more than made up for by the lasting benefits of these systems on health, safety, and productivity. We note also that as shift work increases the likelihood of adverse pregnancy outcomes and may lead to epigenetic modifications in parents that could plausibly affect the epigenetics and hence health of their children, supporting the health of shift workers could one day have critical effects on the well-being of future generations (143,144).…”