The Effect of a Healthy Lifestyle Intervention on Shift Workers With Acid Peptic Disease: A Quasi-experimental Study in Karaikal, South India

Acid peptic disease (APD) is the most common health issue among rotational shift workers, including night shifts. Alterations in diet patterns from the routines of life play a key role in the development of APD in this population. This study aims to determine food habits and evaluate the effect of a healthy lifestyle intervention on reducing the frequency of the occurrence of APD among rotational shift workers. A quasi-experimental study was carried out for six months in Karaikal, South India. About 37 employees involved in rotational shift work were recruited consecutively. A healthy lifestyle intervention was implemented, and pre and postintervention data were collected using a pre-tested, semi-structured questionnaire. The McNemar test was employed to assess the pre and postintervention data using SPSS Statistics version 24 (IBM Corp., Armonk, NY, USA). Among 37 shift workers, almost 21 (56.8%) were suffering from heartburn, and about 14 (38%) presented with two symptoms. Before the intervention, 24 (64.9%) workers experienced APD > 28 days after the previous episode. After intervention, a majority of 34 (91.9%) workers experienced APD > 28 days after the previous episode (p-value = 0.002). This highlights the importance of healthy lifestyle modifications in controlling APD among shift workers. This in turn improves the productivity of the workers.