The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology: Working long hours linked to increased risk of type 2 diabetes

In people doing low socioeconomic status jobs

2014-09-25

(Press-News.org) 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University College London, UK, and colleagues conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of published studies and unpublished individual-level data examining the effects of long working hours on type 2 diabetes up to 30 April 2014. Analysis of data from 4 published studies and 19 studies with unpublished data involving 222 120 men and women from the USA, Europe, Japan, and Australia who were followed for an average of 7.6 years, found a similar risk of developing type 2 diabetes in people working more than 55 hours a week compared to those putting in a normal 35 to 40 hour week. However, the researchers noted significant differences when the results were looked at more closely.

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."

INFORMATION: NOTES TO EDITORS: The study was funded by Medical Research Council, Economic and Social Research Council, British Heart Foundation, US National Institutes of Health, EU New OSH ERA research programme, and Finnish Work Environment Fund. *Quote direct from author and cannot be found in text of Article.

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Identification of genetic risk factors for stroke

2014-09-25

Stroke is one of the leading causes of death worldwide. While many lines of evidence suggest that stroke risk is heritable, only a small number of genes associated with stroke have been identified. A new study in the Journal of Clinical Investigation identifies two genes that underlie cerebral small-vessel disease (CSVD), a risk factor for stroke. Ordan Lehmann and colleagues at the University of Alberta analyzed genome-wide association data from individuals that received brain MRI scans as part of the Cohorts for Heart and Aging Research in Genomic Epidemiology (CHARGE) ...

Wound healing response promotes breast cancer metastasis in postpartum mice

2014-09-25

Within the first 5 years after the birth of a child, women are at an increased risk of developing metastatic breast cancer. Women diagnosed with postpartum breast cancer have a decreased disease free survival time compared to women that have never given birth. The aggressive tendency of postpartum breast cancer suggests that the post-birth breast environment promotes tumor metastasis. A new study in the Journal of Clinical Investigation, suggests that dying tumor cells in postpartum breast tissue promote metastatic disease. Rachel Cook and colleagues at Vanderbilt University ...

Memory slips may signal increased risk of dementia years later

2014-09-24

MINNEAPOLIS – New research suggests that people without dementia who begin reporting memory issues may be more likely to develop dementia later, even if they have no clinical signs of the disease. The study is published in the September 24, 2014, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. "What's notable about our study is the time it took for this transition to dementia or clinical impairment to occur—about 12 years for dementia and nine years for clinical impairment—after the memory complaints began," said study author Richard ...

Think you have Alzheimer's? You just might be right, study says

2014-09-24

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Sept. 24, 2014) -- New research by scientists at the University of Kentucky's Sanders-Brown Center on Aging suggests that people who notice their memory is slipping may be on to something. The research, led by Richard Kryscio, PhD, Chairman of the Department of of Biostatistics and Associate Director of the Alzheimer's Disease Center at the University of Kentucky, appears to confirm that self-reported memory complaints are strong predictors of clinical memory impairment later in life. Kryscio and his group asked 531 people with an average age of 73 ...

Clinical trial examined treatment for complicated grief in older individuals

2014-09-24

Bottom Line: A treatment designed to help older individuals deal with complicated grief (CG) after the loss of a loved one appeared to be more effective than using a treatment designed for depression. Authors: M. Katherine Shear, M.D., of the Columbia University School of Social Work, New York, and colleagues. Background: About 9 percent of bereaved older women experience CG, a serious and debilitating mental health problem associated with functional impairment and increased suicidality. The symptoms can include prolonged grief, frequent thoughts and memories of the ...

Family-based therapies can treat anorexia in teens, Stanford/Packard study finds

2014-09-24

Two different family-based therapies are both effective at combating anorexia nervosa in teenagers, according to the largest study ever to compare two such treatments for the life-threatening eating disorder. The findings, from a multisite study led by researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine, add to a growing body of evidence supporting the value of parents' involvement in anorexia treatment. The results, which will be published Sept. 24 in JAMA Psychiatry, follow prior Stanford research that found a family-based approach was twice as effective as ...

NIH study supports camels as primary source of MERS-CoV transmission

2014-09-24

National Institutes of Health (NIH) and Colorado State University (CSU) scientists have provided experimental evidence supporting dromedary camels as the primary reservoir, or carrier, of Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV). The study, designed by scientists from CSU and NIH's National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, involved three healthy camels exposed through the eyes, nose and throat to MERS-CoV isolated from a patient. Each camel developed a mild upper respiratory tract infection consistent with what scientists have observed throughout ...

When David beats Goliath

2014-09-24

Body size has long been recognized to play a key role in shaping species interactions, with larger species usually winning conflicts with their smaller counterparts. But Queen's University biologist Paul Martin has found that occasionally, small species of birds can dominate larger species during aggressive interactions, particularly when they interact with distantly related species. The new findings provide evidence that the evolution of certain traits can allow species to overcome the disadvantage of a smaller size. "We want to understand why species live where they ...

First mouse model for ALS dementia

2014-09-24

CHICAGO --- The first animal model for ALS dementia, a form of ALS that also damages the brain, has been developed by Northwestern Medicine® scientists. The advance will allow researchers to directly see the brains of living mice, under anesthesia, at the microscopic level. This will allow direct monitoring of test drugs to determine if they work. This is one of the latest research findings since the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge heightened interest in the disease and the need for expanded research and funding. "This new model will allow rapid testing and direct monitoring ...

Findings give hope to plant extract as possible lupus treatment

2014-09-24

HOUSTON, Sept. 24, 2014 – New findings by a biomedical engineer and his team at the University of Houston (UH) raise hope for a new class of drugs to treat lupus that may not include the long list of adverse risks and side effects often associated with current treatments for this disease. Lupus, or systemic lupus erythematosus, is a progressive, degenerative disease in which the immune system turns against itself, attacking a person's healthy tissue, cells and organs. Symptoms range from debilitating pain and fatigue to organ failure and a host of other impairments. ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

Global experts make sense of the science shaping public policies worldwide in new International Science Council and Frontiers Policy Labs series

Columbia Aging Center epidemiologist co-authors new report from National Academies on using race and ethnicity in biomedical research

Astronomers discover first pairs of white dwarf and main sequence stars in clusters, shining new light on stellar evolution

Eradivir’s EV25 therapeutic proven to reduce advanced-stage influenza viral loads faster, more thoroughly in preclinical studies than current therapies