Citation

Hall SJ, Aisbett B, Robertson SJ, Ferguson SA, Turner A. Endocr. Connect. 2017; 6(8): 637-646.

Affiliation

A Turner, Institute for Physical Activity and Nutrition, School of Exercise and Nutrition Sciences, Deakin University, Geelong, Australia.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2017, BioScientifica)

DOI

10.1530/EC-17-0192

PMID

28928228

Abstract

The effect of working on-call from home on sympatho-adrenal medullary (SAM) system activity is currently unknown. This study had two aims, Aim 1: examine salivary α-amylase awakening response (AAR) and diurnal salivary α-amylase (sAA) profile in fire and emergency service workers who operate on-call from home following a night on-call with a call (NIGHT-CALL), a night on-call without a call (NO-CALL) and an off-call night (OFF-CALL) and, Aim 2: explore whether there was an anticipatory effect of working on-call from home (ON) compared to when off-call (OFF) on the diurnal sAA profile. Participants wore activity monitors, completed sleep and work diaries and collected seven saliva samples a day for one week. AAR area under the curve with respect to ground (AUCG), AAR area under the curve with respect to increase (AUCI), AAR reactivity, diurnal sAA slope, diurnal sAA AUCG, and mean 12-h sAA concentrations were calculated. Separate generalised estimating equation (GEE) models were constructed for each variable of interest for each aim. For Aim 1: There were no differences between NIGHT-CALL or NO-CALL and OFF-CALL for any response variable. For Aim 2: there was no difference between any response variable of interest when ON the following night compared to when OFF the following night (n = 14). These findings suggest there is no effect of working on-call from home on sAA, but should be interpreted with caution, as overnight data was not collected. Future research, using overnight heart rate monitoring could help confirm these findings.

Language: en