Title
Sleep disorders and work-related stress with oral hygiene among Indian shift workers
Authors
Sathya Kumaresan, D. Sri Sakthi*, N.D. Jayakumar & Meignana Arumugham Indiran
Affiliation
Saveetha Institute of Medical and Technical Sciences, Saveetha University, Chennai, India; *Corresponding author
Sathya Kumaresan - Email: sathu.kumaresan@gmail.com
D Sri Sakthi - Email: srisakthi@saveetha.com
ND Jayakumar - Email: ndjayakumar@saveetha.com
Meignana Arumugham Indiran - Email:drmei.sdc@saveetha.com
Article Type
Research Article
Date
Received January 1, 2023; Revised January 30, 2023; Accepted January 31, 2023, Published January 31, 2023
Abstract
Construction workers are mostly migrants from isolated villages and are not vigilant about health care measures besides poor language skills. Majority of the population works in shifts across the globe. As a result of poor sleep architecture, excessive sleepiness or insomnia, the construction labourers working in shifts have approximately twice the risk of OSA when compared with those working in the daytime. Likewise, the performance and the productivity of employees in construction sites are impeded by added stress. Therefore, it is of interest to investigate the sleep disorders, work-related stress and its impact on oral hygiene among the construction workers in Chennai. A cross sectional study was conducted among 518 workers in various construction sites at Chennai, South India. The study incorporated Berlin Questionnaire to evaluate disordered breathing during sleep, the Work Ability Index that contains questions concerning work, working ability and health and the Oral Hygiene Index Simplified (Greene and Vermillion, 1964) that was used for recording the oral hygiene status. Pearson correlation between education and OHI-S was statistically significant (r=-0.108). Multiple linear regression analysis revealed that mean WAI score had a positive significant association with work experience (B=0.059, SE=0.030, p=0.05), habits (B=0.032, SE=0.017, p=0.05) and marital status (B=0.135, SE=0.54, p=0.01). In contrast, education (B=-0.0.052, SE=0.023, p=0.02) and work schedule (B=0.022, SE=0.037, p=0.54) were inversely associated with the mean score. Based on the current findings, it is imperative to restore work ability for those with poor work ability thereby enhancing productivity in the migrant workers. As shift work may be extremely detrimental to poor sleep quality, the employers should arrange shift schedules in accordance with sleep physiology. Additionally, dental awareness and interventions are required to improve oral hygiene among migrant workers.
Keywords
Work ability index (WAI), Berlin questionnaire, oral hygiene index-Simplified (OHI-S), obstruction sleep apnea, construction workers, and migrant workers
Citation
Kumaresan et al. Bioinformation 19(1): 69-73 (2023)
Edited by
P Kangueane
ISSN
0973-2063
Publisher
License
This is an Open Access article which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited. This is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License.
