People working more than 55 hrs per week likelier to develop type-2 diabetes

A new research has revealed that people who work for more than 55 hours per week are likelier to develop type-2 diabetes than their counterparts working for 35 to 40 hours a week.

Researchers at University College London conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of published studies and unpublished individual-level data examining the effects of long working hours on type 2 diabetes up to 30 April 2014.

The study revealed that individuals doing low socioeconomic status jobs who worked 55 hours or more per week had a roughly 30 percent 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.

Researcher Mika Kivimaki said that the pooling of all available studies on this topic allowed them to investigate the association between working hours and diabetes risk with greater precision than has been previously possible.

Kivimaki added that 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.

The study is published in The Lancet Diabetes and Endocrinology.