Ambulatory Blood Pressure Monitoring in Bakery Professionals

Nighttime work is associated with changes in the chronobiological pattern of most physiological variables, including those related to the cardiovascular system, mainly blood pressure (BP) and heart rate (HR). Objectives. To evaluate BP in baking professionals working on a fixed night regimen, in order to study the circadian profile and the adaptation of the BP to the professional schedules. Methods. Thirty male and female individuals, aged between 22 and 66 years old, who work in the bakery sector in a permanent night regimen with work hours between 23 and 7 h were enrolled in a cross-sectional study. Ambulatory blood pressure monitoring (ABPM) was used to automatically obtain multiple indirect measurements of BP in a 24-hour period. Results. Ambulatory BP parameters showed average values within normal range to the majority of the study population. Females presented higher values compared to males. With the analysis of the questionnaires, it was possible to find out that 73.6% of the participants had smoking habits, 90% had coffee drinking habits and 30% consume caffeinated soft drinks. The 24 h BP pattern depicted a chronobiological adaptation to the activity/sleep cycles, and a similar pattern was accordingly found for HR. Conclusions. Nocturnal working activity promotes an adaptation of the chronobiological variation of BP through the 24 h, with higher average BP values during the activity periods and a sleep-related dipping of both systolic and diastolic BP. Long-term effect of such permanent adaptation is yet to be ascertained.