Jobs that Increase the Risk of Diabetes

SadaNews - A new study has revealed that those who have significant interactions with patients, students, clients, or the general public in their chosen work may expose themselves to a high risk of developing type 2 diabetes.

According to what was published by New Atlas, if a person also has a weak support network among peers, this may exacerbate the likelihood of developing the disease.

Swedish Study

Researchers from the Karolinska Institute in Sweden used data from the Swedish Work, Illness, and Labor Market Participation Study (SWIP), focusing specifically on individuals aged 30 to 60 and the job they held in 2005. They included only those who had no medical history of diabetes and had not used any anti-diabetic medications before 2005.

Three Aspects of Jobs

The scientists examined three aspects of jobs that involve communicating with others: general interaction with others, emotional demands resulting from dealing with people with health issues or other problems, and confrontations in the workplace with others. They also looked at the structure of social support in those workplaces, based on surveys of the work environment from 1997 to 2013.

Regular Interaction

"Interacting with others" included cases of regular interaction with patients, clients, travelers, and students, ranging from healthcare to customer service and teaching.

The researchers identified 20 roles in sectors that experience the highest level of communication with others - in addition to being the most emotionally demanding and exposure to conflicts. These roles included sectors such as healthcare, education, services, hospitality, social work, law, security, and transportation.

Emotional Demands and Confrontations

The new study focused on emotional demands and confrontations at work. From 2006 to 2020, 216,640 individuals (60% of whom were men) developed type 2 diabetes, additionally, there were certainly some influential lifestyle factors, as they were more likely to have lower education levels and job insecurity compared to those who did not develop this condition.

Women More Affected

Both men and women participating in roles requiring high/urgent employee stress had a much higher risk of developing type 2 diabetes. The rates were 20% for men and 24% for women. In addition to regular conflicts and confrontations, this risk increased by another 15% for men and 20% for women.

Social Support

Looking at the performance of these participants in workplace support systems, the data showed that women in jobs requiring emotional effort and high levels of interaction with others, with low social support at work, have a 47% higher risk of developing diabetes compared to women with low job demands and a strong support network within their team.

Suppressing True Feelings

The researchers noted that "regarding communication with people at work, there are expectations to manage emotions, where workers are required to express or conceal their feelings based on societal, professional, and organizational standards. It becomes more exhausting when the expressed feelings do not match the true feelings".

Underlying Biological Mechanisms

The results of the study highlight that the workplace and the support system that employees in jobs requiring direct interaction with the public have are associated with poor metabolic health outcomes. The researchers see that "the underlying biological mechanisms behind the relationship between personal work and type 2 diabetes are related to biological responses to repeated and chronic stress affecting the nervous system".

Chronic Stress

The researchers explain that "chronic stress affects the central sympathetic nervous system and the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis, leading to increased cortisol production and increased insulin resistance along with decreased insulin secretion and sensitivity. Chronic stress can also raise pro-inflammatory cytokines, impairing insulin signaling and function. With insufficient social support at work, personal work stress may worsen and further impact these biological changes."

Teaching and Nursing

Despite the limitations of the study, it provides invaluable insight into stress factors that are often invisible and unappreciated in roles such as teaching, nursing, and social work - which are associated with high burnout rates, high employee turnover, and in many areas, suffer from chronic staffing shortages.

Requirements and Challenges

The researchers concluded that the results of the study "highlight the impact of the demands and challenges in personal work on the metabolic health of workers", thus prompting the need for future studies to explore the mechanisms (such as biological or behavioral mechanisms) underlying these associations and to develop preventive strategies aimed at reducing health risks in person-related work.