Associations between multiple occupational exposures and sleep problems: Results from the national French Working Conditions survey

Studies evaluating the effects of multiple occupational exposures on sleep are very rare. We assessed the associations between a wide range of occupational exposures and sleep problems and investigated the cumulative effects of these exposures on this outcome. We used data from the French 2016 Working Conditions survey conducted on a nationally representative sample of workers, including 20,430 employees aged 15-65 yr (8,579 men, 11,851 women). Sleep problems were defined by either sleep disturbances or sleep medication, almost daily or several times a week. Occupational exposures included 21 psychosocial work factors grouped into five dimensions, four factors related to working time/hours and four factors related to the physical work environment. Unadjusted and adjusted weighted robust Poisson regression analyses were performed. Almost all psychosocial work exposures were associated with sleep problems, whereas the only significant working time/hours factor associated with sleep problems was night work among women. Some gender differences in the exposure-outcome associations were found. The prevalence ratio of sleep problems increased with the number of exposures for most dimensions of psychosocial work factors. Physical work exposures were associated with sleep problems, and there was a linear association between the number of these occupational exposures and sleep problems in both genders, although the trend did not reach statistical significance among women. Workplace preventive strategies targeting the work environment comprehensively may be effective in improving sleep among working populations. More attention should be given to multiple exposures in the workplace.