Working
long hours linked to increased risk of type 2 diabetes in people doing low
socioeconomic status jobs
People working for more than 55 hours per week doing manual work
or other low socioeconomic status jobs have a 30% greater risk of developing
type 2 diabetes, according to the largest study in this field so far, published
in The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology.
Mika Kivimäki, Professor of Epidemiology at University College
London, UK, and colleagues conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of
published studies and unpublished individual-level data examining the effects
of long working hours on type 2 diabetes up to 30 April 2014.
Further analyses revealed that individuals doing low
socioeconomic status jobs who worked 55 hours or more per week had a roughly
30% increased risk of developing diabetes compared to their counterparts who
worked between 35 and 40 hours a week, even after taking into account health
behaviours such as smoking and physical activity, and other risk factors
including age, sex, and obesity. This association remained strong even after
excluding shift work, which has been shown to increase the risk of obesity and
developing type 2 diabetes.
The researchers say that further research is needed to identify
the underlying mechanisms for the association between long working hours and
diabetes in people doing low socioeconomic status jobs, but suggest a number of
possible explanations, including working disruptive schedules that leave little
time to take part in health restoring behaviours such as sleeping, unwinding,
and exercise.
According to Professor Kivimäki, "The pooling of all
available studies on this topic allowed us to investigate the association
between working hours and diabetes risk with greater precision than has been
previously possible.
Although working long hours is unlikely to increase
diabetes risk in everyone, health professionals should be aware that it is
associated with a significantly increased risk in people doing low
socioeconomic status jobs."
In a linked Comment, Dr Orfeu Buxton from Pennsylvania State
University, PA, USA and Dr Cassandra Okechukwu from Harvard School of Public
Health, MA, USA write that, "Kivimäki and colleagues' elegantly designed
study provides a solid foundation for both epidemiological and intervention
work on diabetes risks.
The results remained robust even after controlling for
obesity and physical activity, which are often the focus of diabetes risk prevention,
suggesting that work factors affecting health behaviours and stress may need to
be addressed as part of diabetes prevention."
Story Source:
The above story is based on materials provided by The Lancet. Note: Materials may be edited for content and
length.
Journal Reference:
Mika Kivimäki, Marianna Virtanen, Ichiro Kawachi, Solja T
Nyberg, Lars Alfredsson, G David Batty, Jakob B Bjorner, Marianne Borritz, Eric
J Brunner, Hermann Burr, Nico Dragano, Jane E Ferrie, Eleonor I Fransson, Mark
Hamer, Katriina Heikkilä, Anders Knutsson, Markku Koskenvuo, Ida E H Madsen,
Martin L Nielsen, Maria Nordin, Tuula Oksanen, Jan H Pejtersen, Jaana Pentti,
Reiner Rugulies, Paula Salo, Johannes Siegrist, Andrew Steptoe, Sakari
Suominen, Töres Theorell, Jussi Vahtera, Peter J M Westerholm, Hugo Westerlund,
Archana Singh-Manoux, Markus Jokela. Long working hours, socioeconomic
status, and the risk of incident type 2 diabetes: a meta-analysis of published
and unpublished data from 222 120 individuals. The Lancet Diabetes
& Endocrinology, 2014; DOI:10.1016/S2213-8587(14)70178-0
Cite This Page:
The Lancet. "Working long hours linked to increased risk of
type 2 diabetes in people doing low socioeconomic status jobs." Science Daily,
24 September 2014.
<www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/09/140924211915.htm>.