THURSDAY, Sept. 25, 2014 (HealthDay News) -- Working long hours may increase one's risk for diabetes, but this may depend on the job. These findings have been published online Sept. 25 in The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology.
Researchers examined data from prior studies involving more than 222,000 men and women in the United States, Europe, Japan, and Australia who were followed for an average of 7.6 years.
The initial analysis revealed no difference in the risk of type 2 diabetes among people who worked more than 55 hours a week and those who worked 35 to 40 hours a week. However, further analyses showed that people who worked more than 55 hours a week at manual labor or other types of "low socioeconomic status jobs" were 30 percent more likely to develop diabetes than those who worked 35 to 40 hours a week. This increased risk remained even after the researchers accounted for diabetes risk factors such as smoking, physical activity levels, age, sex, and obesity, and after the researchers excluded shift work.
Although the researchers found an association between long work weeks and diabetes, they did not establish a cause-and-effect relationship. Further research is needed to learn more about the seeming link between working long hours and increased diabetes risk, the study authors said.
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