The effect of night shifts on the development of obesity and disorders of carbohydrate metabolism in workers of locomotive brigades of railway transport

• Mayya A. Garieva
• Larisa V. Kondratyeva
• Evgeniya Yu. Pashkova
• Natalya A. Chernikova

Abstract

Aim: to evaluate the impact of night shifts on the development of disorders of carbohydrate metabolism in workers of railway transport related to traffic safety.

Material and methods. The research included 101 patients, the railway workers with work experience more than 1 year, at the age of 35-55 years with shift work and the presence of night shifts. The first group included 34 patients with an established diagnosis of diabetes mellitus type 2 (DM2) with a disease duration of not more than 5 years on oral mono- and two-component glucose-lowering therapy; the second group consisted of patients with a BMI above 30 kg/m² in 35 patients; the third group consisted of 32 patients without previously established disorders of carbohydrate metabolism and without obesity. Evaluation of carbohydrate metabolism in the examined groups was conducted on the level of plasma glucose in the fasting, postprandial and the level of glycated hemoglobin (HbA_1c).

Results. In the group of patients with DM2 the mean value of HbA_1c was 7.23±1.62 (min 5.24; max 12) % to the beginning of the study. Level HbA_1c exceed 7.5% of the 13 patients, 5 of them the level of HbA_1c reached values above 9%. In 18 patients the level of HbA_1c<7.0% for mono- and two-component therapy. Fasting glucose in the group with DM2 made up 6.98±1.41 (min 5.4; max 11.5) mmol/l, postprandial blood glucose - 9.57± 1.65 (min 6.9; max 12.4) mmol/l.

In the second study group, the average HbA_1c level equal to 5.76±0.42 (min 5.06; max 7.02) %, fasting glucose - 5.57±0.32 (min 5.3; max 6.8) mmol/l, postprandial blood glucose and 7.7±1.04 (min 5.9; max 10.2) mmol/l. More thorough analysis of the second group showed that among 35 patients, 20 HbA_1c above 5.7%.

In the group of healthy patients disorders of carbohydrate metabolism were not revealed: HbA_1c was 5.42±0.34% (min 4.5%; max 5.8%), fasting glucose - 5.08±0.32 (min 4.2; max 5.5) mmol/l, postprandial blood glucose is of 6.57±0.51 (min 5.6; max 7.4) mmol/l.

Conclusions. In our study, most patients with DM2, on average in the group, has not reached the target HbA_1c parameters. In the second group of studies the results of the glucose tolerance test impaired glucose tolerance was detected in 8 patients, one diagnosed with diabetes mellitus type 2 in one patient established impaired fasting glucose. Despite normal average HbA_1c indicators in the third group of the study, in 11 patients the level of HbA_1c was 5.7-5.9 percent, which may indicate a high risk of developing disorders of carbohydrate metabolism up to diabetes in the future.

Keywords:diabetes mellitus, visceral obesity, workers of locomotive brigades, stress resistance, prevalence, HbA1c level, night shifts

All articles in our journal are distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0 license)