Sammenheng mellom uttalt tretthet og smerte, søvn, psykisk helse og faktorer knyttet til arbeidsforhold blant sykepleiere
Forskere fra Universitetet i Bergen, Folkehelseinstituttet og Nasjonalt senter for søvnmedisin har i denne studien undersøkt om smerte, søvnlengde, insomni, søvnighet, angst, depresjon og faktorer knyttet til arbeidsforhold kan assosieres med uttalt tretthet hos sykepleiere. 1.335 norske sykepleiere, som deltok i SUSSH-studien, svarte på relevante, validerte spørreskjema for å belyse problemstillingen. Forskerne konkluderte med at uttalt tretthet var assosiert med smerte, søvnproblemer og psykiske helseproblemer i denne populasjonen.
Publisert 20.04.2023
Sist oppdatert 01.11.2024
Stand Hiestand, Ingeborg Forthun, Siri Waage, Ståle Pallesen, Bjørn Bjorvatn
Studien er publisert i PLOS ONE
Aim: To investigate whether pain, sleep duration, insomnia, sleepiness, work-related factors, anxiety, and depression associate with excessive fatigue in nurses.
Background: Fatigue among nurses is a problem in the context of ongoing nursing shortages. While myriad factors are associated with fatigue not all relationships are understood. Prior studies have not examined excessive fatigue in the context of pain, sleep, mental health, and work factors in a working population to determine if associations between excessive fatigue and each of these factors remain when adjusting for each other.
Methods: A cross-sectional questionnaire study among 1,335 Norwegian nurses. The questionnaire included measures for fatigue (Chalder Fatigue Questionnaire, score ≥4 categorized as excessive fatigue), pain, sleep duration, insomnia (Bergen Insomnia Scale), daytime sleepiness (Epworth Sleepiness Scale), anxiety and depression (Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale), and work-related factors. Associations between the exposure variables and excessive fatigue were analyzed using chi-square tests and logistic regression analyses.
Results: In the fully adjusted model, significant associations were found between excessive fatigue and pain severity scores for arms/wrists/hands (adjusted OR (aOR) = 1.09, CI = 1.02-1.17), hips/legs/knees/feet (aOR = 1.11, CI = 1.05-1.18), and headaches/migraines (aOR = 1.16, CI = 1.07-1.27), sleep duration of <6 hours (aOR = 2.02, CI = 1.08-3.77), and total symptom scores for insomnia (aOR = 1.05, CI = 1.03-1.08), sleepiness (aOR = 1.11, CI = 1.06-1.17), anxiety (aOR = 1.09, CI = 1.03-1.16), and depression (aOR = 1.24, CI = 1.16-1.33). The musculoskeletal complaint-severity index score (aOR = 1.27, CI = 1.13-1.42) was associated with excessive fatigue in a separate model adjusted for all variables and demographics. Excessive fatigue was also associated with shift work disorder (OR = 2.25, CI = 1.76-2.89) in a model adjusted for demographics. We found no associations with shift work, number of night shifts and number of quick returns (<11 hours between shifts) in the fully adjusted model.
Conclusion: Excessive fatigue was associated with pain, sleep- and mental health-factors in a fully adjusted model.