Night Shift and Decreased Brain Activity of ICU Nurses: A Near-Infrared Spectroscopy Study

Background: Shift working is associated with a profound desynchronization of circadian rhythm and in particular, night-shift work disrupts normal circadian physiology. Sleep deprivation affects the functioning of certain brain areas and thus impairs cognitive performance. The purpose of this study w...

Description complète

Enregistré dans:
Détails bibliographiques
Auteurs principaux: Noelia Durán-Gómez, Jorge Guerrero-Martín, Demetrio Pérez-Civantos, Casimiro Fermín López-Jurado, Jesús Montanero-Fernández, Macarena C. Cáceres
Format: article
Langue:EN
Publié: MDPI AG 2021
Sujets:
R
Accès en ligne:https://doaj.org/article/51da2e7f9e144e6caca09c77df7c4bc2
Tags: Ajouter un tag
Pas de tags, Soyez le premier à ajouter un tag!
Description
Résumé:Background: Shift working is associated with a profound desynchronization of circadian rhythm and in particular, night-shift work disrupts normal circadian physiology. Sleep deprivation affects the functioning of certain brain areas and thus impairs cognitive performance. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of the night shift on cognitive performance and cerebral oxygenation/haemodynamics. Methods: A prospective, observational, comparative, randomized and cross-over study was carried out. A total of 74 intensive care unit nurses in Spain were included in the study. The following variables were measured: sociodemographic, burnout, anxiety, baseline cerebral oxygenation levels on night and day shift using a near-infrared spectroscopy system and cognitive task performance during a verbal fluency task to evaluate the alterations in the prefrontal cortex, assessed as changes in regional saturation index. Results: The average regional saturation index decreased significantly in the night shift (r = 0.560, <i>p</i> < 0.001). The ICU nurses showed a significant decrease in the verbal fluency test on average (8.53 ± 8.49, <i>p</i> < 0.001) and, in general, there was also a significant increase in anxiety score (3.17 ± 7.56, <i>p</i> = 0.001). Conclusions: Sleep deprivation during the night shift was considered to be related to decreased dorsolateral PFC reactivity. After the night shift, the nurses showed a decrease in prefrontal cortex activity and in cognitive performance.