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To estimate the prevalence of a comprehensive set of self-reported sleep problems by job characteristics, including shiftwork status, among a representative sample of US workers.Data for 6338 workers aged ≥18 years were obtained from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Short sleep duration was defined as7 hours per weekday/workday. Sleep quality was categorised as good, moderate and poor based on the frequency of 6 sleep-related symptoms. A sleep-related activities of daily living (ADL) score ≥2 was defined as impaired. Insomnia was defined as having poor sleep quality and impaired ADL. Shiftwork status was categorised as daytime, night, evening, rotating or another schedule. Prevalence rates were calculated and multivariate logistic regression analyses were used.The prevalence of short sleep duration (37.6% overall) was highest among night shift workers (61.8%; p0.001). The prevalence of poor sleep quality was 19.2% among all workers, with the highest prevalence among night shift workers (30.7%, p=0.004). The prevalence of impaired ADL score (24.8% overall) and insomnia (8.8% overall) was also highest for night shift workers (36.2%, p=0.001 and 18.5%, p=0.013, respectively). In multivariate analysis, night shift workers had the highest likelihood of these sleep problems.Self-reported short sleep duration, poor sleep quality, impaired ADL score and insomnia are common among US workers especially among night shift workers. Although these findings should be confirmed with objective sleep measures, they support the need for intervention programmes to improve sleep quantity and quality among night shift workers.

Objectives To determine the prevalence of cigarette smoking cessation and examine the association between cessation and various factors among workers in a nationally representative sample of US adults. Methods Data were derived from the 2010 National Health Interview Survey. Prevalence rates were calculated for interest in quitting smoking, making an attempt to quit smoking, and successful smoking cessation (defined as smokers who had quit for 6–12 months). Logistic regression analyses were used to identify factors associated with cessation after adjustment for demographic characteristics (age group, race/ethnicity, educational level and marital status). Results Data were available for 17 524 adults who were employed in the 12 months prior to interview. The prevalence of quit interest, quit attempt and recent cessation was 65.2%, 53.8% and 6.8%, respectively. Quit interest was less likely among workers with long work hours, but more likely among workers with job insecurity, or frequent workplace skin and/or respiratory exposures. Quit attempt was more likely among workers with a hostile work environment but less likely among workers living in a home that permitted smoking or who smoked ≥11 cigarettes/day. Recent smoking cessation was less likely among workers with frequent exposure to others smoking at work or living in a home that permitted smoking, but more likely among workers with health insurance. Conclusions Factors associated with cessation interest or attempt differed from those associated with successful cessation. Cessation success might be improved by reducing exposure to others smoking at work and home, and by improving access to health insurance.

Background: Translocations, the most stable form of chromosome aberrations, are an established biomarker of cumulative exposure to external ionizing radiation. Airline pilots are exposed to varying levels of cosmic ionizing radiation, but to date, there have been few flight crew studies that have examined translocations in relation to flight experience. Methods: We determined the frequency of translocations in the peripheral blood lymphocytes of 83 airline pilots and 50 comparison subjects (mean age = 47 and 46 years, respectively). Translocations were scored in an average of 1039 cell equivalents (CE) per subject using fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) whole chromosome painting and expressed per 100 CE. Negative binomial regression models were used to assess the relationship between translocation frequency and exposure status and flight years, adjusting for age, self-reported personal diagnostic x-ray procedures, and military flying. Results: There was no significant difference in the adjusted mean translocation frequency of pilots and the comparison group (0.37 ± 0.04 vs. 0.38 ± 0.06 translocations/100 CE, respectively). However, among the pilots, the adjusted translocation frequency was significantly associated with flight years (P = 0.01) with rate ratios of 1.06 (95% CI 1.01 to 1.11) and 1.81 (95% CI 1.16 to 2.82) for a 1- and 10-year incremental increase in flight years, respectively. The adjusted rate ratio for pilots in the highest compared to those in the lowest quartile of flight years was 2.59 (95% CI 1.26 to 5.33). Conclusions: Our data suggest that pilots with long-term flying experience may be exposed to biologically significant doses of ionizing radiation. Epidemiologic studies with longer follow-up of larger cohorts of pilots with a wide range of radiation exposure levels are needed to clarify the relationship between cosmic radiation exposure and cancer risk.