Shift work and pathological conditions

Occupational and environmental medicine cover a broad field of areas including respiratory disorders [1-6], haematological disorders [7], musculoskeletal disorders [8,9] and dermatological and rheumatic disorders [10,11]. Shift work related disorders are common medical problems and are encountered daily throughout the world by many practitioners. Therefore, a distinct field of research has focused on the identification of specific shift work-related issues [12-15]. One of the most important areas of shift-work research is the characterization of pathways by which shift work can exerts its influence on human health [16-19]. In this respect, nearly all biological functions beginning on the subcellular level have a circadian rhythm [20,21]. It has become obvious that even disturbances of single aspects of these rhythms may lead to major effects [22-24]. The present review summaries recently published data on the association of shift work with different diseases.A PubMed research was performed using the terms "shift", "work", and "shift work" and publication types (date: 2006-01-04). Articles were screened for their contents and relevant data was analysed.For the term ？shift" 93718 entries were registrated. To analyse specific articles related to shift work, the search was narrowed and for the terms ？shift" AND ？work" 5557 entries were found. To further delineate the research the term "Shift work" was entered and 931 entries were registered which were analysed for their contents (fig. 1). For the terms "Shift" AND "work" AND "Journal Article" [Publication Type] were 5504 and for the terms "Shift work" AND "Journal Article" [Publication Type] 900 entries were listed (fig. 2). Also, reviews related to the matter were analysed and 516 entries were found for "Shift" AND "work" AND "review" [Publication Type] and 156 entries for "Shift work" AND "review" [Publication Type] 156 (fig. 3).Since shift work has been related to an increased risk of cardiovascular diseases metaboli