Job Burnout may Boost Diabetes Risk

Ivanhoe Newswire
Thursday, November 23, 2006; 12:00 AM

(Ivanhoe Newswire) -- Could stress at work make you more prone to developing type 2 diabetes?

Perhaps, report Israeli researchers who studied diabetes rates in about 675 workers who were followed for between three and five years. Those who reported job burnout were nearly twice as more likely overall to develop type 2 diabetes during the study. The finding held true even after results were adjusted to take diabetes risk factors like obesity, age and sex into account.

In a subgroup where researchers also attempted to control for blood pressure, people who experienced burnout on the job were more than four-times more likely to come down with the condition.

"These findings suggest that chronic burnout might be a risk factor for the onset of type 2 diabetes in apparently healthy individuals," write the authors.

The result makes sense, considering previous research on animals. The investigators cite studies suggesting animals exposed to stressful situations were more likely to develop high blood sugar -- a hallmark of type 2 diabetes. The current study is among the first to examine the relationship in people and may be the first to specifically look at the effects of workplace stress.

A fellow investigator from Duke University, however, believes much more study is needed before anyone can say for sure job burnout increases the risk for type 2 diabetes. While agreeing stress can disrupt the body's ability to process sugar, Richard Surwit, Ph.D., reports researchers will have to "look at hundreds of thousands of people" to truly gauge the effect.

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SOURCE: Psychosomatic Medicine, published online Nov. 20, 2006