Abstract

Background: Shift-work is essential component of working pattern across KSA industrial workforce and is therefore an integral part of the lifestyle of a large proportion of these populations. However, the number of people working alternating shifts in social, communication, industrial, leisure, transportation, medical services and in factories is probably rapidly rising. Aims &
Objective: To study and compare subjective sleep quality and the quality of life resulting from the volume of sleep over the last month among shift and non-shift workers.
Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional comparative study was adopted. It included a representative sample of male factory workers in Aseer Industrial City, Saudi Arabia during October 2011. Out of 35 factories, 14 factories were selected randomly, and then from each selected factory, 24 workers were randomly invited to participate in the study. Half of these workers must be within shift-workers group and another half within daytime work group. A self-administrated questionnaire was used for data collection including demographic characteristics, questionnaires of Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) to measure the quality and patterns of sleep and Functional Outcome of Sleep Questionnaire (FOSQ) to measure the functional outcome resulting from sleep demand.
Results: The study included 291 factory workers out of 336 invited to participate in the study, giving a response rate of 86.6%.Workers with good sleep quality represent 79.7% of non-shift group compared to only 32.4% of work shift group, p