Long hours and low pay increase diabetes risk 30 per cent
Having a poorly paid 55 hour working week increases the risk of developing type 2 diabetes by 30 per cent compared to people working 35 to 40 hours.
The research was carried out by University College London and published in the journal the Lancet: Diabetes and Endocrinology. The researchers reviewed a number of different clinical studies which included over 220,000 participants from Europe, the United States, Australia and Japan.
To ensure no significant bias was involved within the study, the researchers took account of factors such as age, gender, BMI, smoking status and physical activity. The researchers also noted that the 30% increased diabetes risk remained even when shift workers were excluded from the analysis. Shift workers are another group of workers that have previously been shown to have high risks of developing diabetes.
The study did not aim to investigate why low paid jobs with long working hours was connected with such a significant increase in diabetes risk but we can at least speculate as to why a higher risk was observed.
Long working hours would certainly result in having less time available in which to plan and cook meals. Less free time could also be problematic for workers in jobs involving little …read more
Source:: News from Diabetes.co.uk