SALIVARY BIOMARKERS ANALYSIS AND NEUROBEHAVIORAL ASSESSMENT IN NURSES WORKING ROTATION SHIFTS.

Introduction In Europe, one in five workers is employed in night shift work which is essential in several activities, especially the healthcare sector. Night working may be associated with occurrence of sleep disorders or work-related stress, both potentially augmenting the risk of errors and accidents at work. This study examines the presence of neurobehavioral alterations as potential consequence of shift working and concurrent misalignment of the sleep times and circadian rhythms. MethodsNurses (n = 102) employed at a University Hospital located in North-Eastern Sicily, Italy, voluntarily participated in this study. During medical surveillance, morning and evening salivary samples were collected, and seven psychodiagnostics questionnaires were administered to all the subjects. Salivary levels of stress-related biomarkers (cortisol and alpha-amylase) and a circadian biomarker (melatonin) were evaluated. Also, several neurobehavioral features were assessed, including depression, anxiety, work-related, and sleep issues. ResultsAll examined stress indexes highlighted that a small percentage of the nurses experienced work-related stress. However, a higher percentage of females than males reported mild depressive and anxious symptoms. Also, 76% of nurses consider their sleep quality to be good. Finally, a positive relationship between salivary morning cortisol and depression scale, as well as a negative relationship between salivary morning alpha-amylase and work ability scale, were observed. DiscussionBased on these results, the integration of subjective questionnaire outcomes and objective salivary biomarker quantification can help to identify workers with increased susceptibility to developing neurobehavioral alterations. Conclusion This approach may contribute to ameliorating preventive strategies towards sensitive categories, such as nurses working rotation shifts.