Long hours and low status jobs 'link' to diabetes

Men and women in poorly-paid, low-status jobs are at greater risk of developing diabetes than others, according to research.

Even when shift work, smoking, physical activity and obesity were taken into account, researchers found that those in poorly paid jobs who work 55 hours or more a week are 30% more likely to develop Type 2diabetes than those putting in 35 to 40 hours.

Researchers analysed data from more than 222,000 men and women who participated indiabetes studies in the US, Europe, Japan and Australia.

Lead scientist Professor Mika Kivimaki, from University College London, said: "The pooling of all available studies on this topic allowed us to investigate the association between working hours and diabetes risk with greater precision than has been previously possible.

"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 socio-economic status jobs."

The findings are reported in the journal The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology.

Long hours in a dead-end job could increase diabetes risk by almost a third, research has shown.

People in low-status, poorly paid jobs who work 55 hours or more a week are 30% more likely to develop Type 2 diabetes than those putting in 35 to 40 hours, scientists found.