Associations of chronotype and social jetlag with depressive symptoms in shift nurses: a cross-sectional study

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the prevalence of chronotype, social jetlag and depressive symptoms in shift nurses, and to explore the relationship between chronotype, social jetlag and depressive symptoms. METHODS: From October to November 2024, a total of 301 shift nurses from a tertiary-level hospital in Sichuan, China were selected as the investigation objects by purposeful sampling method, and the investigation was conducted using the Morning and Evening Questionaire 5 (MEQ-5), the Munich Chronotype Questionnaire (MCTQ), and the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9). The influencing factors of depressive symptoms were analyzed by multiple linear regression. RESULTS: The detection rate of depressive symptoms in shift nurses was 20.1%, the proportion of morning type, intermediate type and night type was 16.7%, 76.4% and 6.9%, respectively, and the proportion of high social jetlag was 49.7%. Factors such as age, alcohol consumption, exercise persistence, chronic disease, health status, the chronotype of intermediate type and night type were significantly associated with higher depressive symptoms scores among nurses (P < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Intermediate and evening chronotypes were associated with higher depressive symptoms. It is suggested that nursing managers use chronotype as a basis when formulating intervention plans for depressive symptoms in shift nurses, which could help reduce their severity.