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 Compared to people who felt secure in their jobs, people who were
experiencing so-called job insecurity had a 19 percent higher rate
of new cases of diabetes, which researchers called a "modest
increased risk."
The study can't prove that job insecurity causes diabetes. Still,
said lead author Jane Ferrie, "In an ideal world, the sort of thing
I’d like to see come out of this study is a reduction in job
insecurity and an increase in secure job contracts and reasonable
wages."
About one in 10 adults have diabetes, according to the World Health
Organization. Most have type 2 diabetes, which occurs when the body
can’t make or process enough of the hormone insulin.
For the new analysis, Ferrie, of the University of Bristol and
University College London in the U.K., and colleagues compiled data
from 19 studies involving a total of 140,825 adults in the U.S.,
Australia and Europe who were employed and diabetes free when they
enrolled in the studies.
At the outset, participants were asked if they were afraid of losing
their jobs in the near future. Depending on the study, from 6
percent to 40 percent of respondents said yes, they did fear for
their jobs.
Over the next 10 years, on average, the annual rate of new diabetes
cases in the studies ranged from about 9 for every 10,000
participants to about 85 for every 10,000.
People who reported job insecurity at the beginning of the study
were 19 percent more likely to be diagnosed with diabetes during the
follow-up period, after taking age and sex into account, according
to the report in CMAJ.
When the researchers restricted their analysis to the 15 studies
with data on factors other than age and sex that might influence a
person's risk, job insecurity was still tied to a 12 percent higher
risk of being diagnosed with diabetes.
The new analysis fills a gap, Ferrie and colleagues suggest. Job
insecurity has already been linked with higher body mass index
(BMI), a measure of weight in relation to height. Past studies also
found that people experiencing job insecurity had an increased risk
of heart attacks and deaths related to heart problems.
A high BMI is one risk factor for diabetes, which in turn is a risk
factor for heart disease.
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Job-related stress can cause people to overeat and overindulge in
other unhealthy behaviors, and stress hormones can directly promote
weight gain as well, all of which could contribute to increased risk
for diabetes.
Individuals shouldn't be too concerned about the findings, however,
since the study looked at diabetes risk across a large group of
people, Ferrie told Reuters Health. "This is not going to tell any
individual about their risk."
"We need a population health approach and to reduce people's
exposure to job insecurity," she said.
But the new study is something to keep in mind for people facing job
insecurity - especially people who are already at high risk for
diabetes, such as men and women who are overweight and women who
temporarily developed diabetes while pregnant, said Edwin Torres, of
Montefiore Health System in New York City.
"This is a phenomenon I’ve seen as a provider and in the
literature," said Torres, who was not involved with the new study,
but is a nurse practitioner completing his PhD on the subject at
Binghamton University in New York.
"If you lose your job or have job insecurity, make sure you're
exercising," he said.
SOURCE: http://bit.ly/2dCZfYZ CMAJ, online October 3, 2016.
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