Impact of sleep debt, social jetlag, and insomnia symptoms on presenteeism and psychological distress of workers in Japan: a cross-sectional study.

Background: Presenteeism is an indicator of productivity loss and the risk of absence from work due to mental health problems. The purpose of this study was to determine the impact of sleep debt, social jetlag, and insomnia symptoms on presenteeism and psychological distress.

Methods: The participants were 351 Japanese workers (271 males, 79 females, and one of other gender, with a mean age of 49 ± 9.49 years). The eligibility criteria for this study were full-time employment, working eight hours per day, five days per week, and no night shifts. The participants answered questionnaires measuring sleep debt, social jetlag, insomnia symptoms, presenteeism, and psychological distress.

Results: Insomnia symptoms had the greatest impact on presenteeism and psychological distress when compared with sleep debt and social jetlag (adjusted odds ratio (OR) = 5.61, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 2.88-10.91; adjusted OR = 7.29, 95%CI = 3.06-17.35). Sleep debt had a greater impact on presenteeism and psychological distress than did social jetlag (adjusted OR = 1.61, 95%CI = 1.14-2.27; adjusted OR = 1.68, 95%CI = 1.11-2.54), which had no impact on these variables (adjusted OR = 1.04, 95%CI = 0.91-1.20; adjusted OR = 0.96, 95%CI = 0.76-1.22).

Conclusions: The findings of this study indicated that insomnia symptoms had a more significant impact on presenteeism and psychological distress than social jetlag and sleep debt. Although sleep debt might have an independent impact on presenteeism and psychological distress, social jetlag did not.