An application of the propensity score method in comparisons of health status between 12-h rotating shift and day schedules

Background: In observational studies, imbalanced background characteristics hamper addressing causal questions, because a randomisation is usually not feasible for ethical and practical reasons. The Propensity score (PS) method reduces the measured background characteristics to a single composite characteristic and therefore enables a straightforward assessment. The present analysis aimed to compare the estimation by means of PS with a previous assessment of shift systems and their effects on the employee's health using conventional regression models. Materials and Methods: Two different shift schedules (3×12 an…