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Job insecurity may increase diabetes risk
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The risk for developing diabetes is modestly increased in adults with job insecurity, according to findings published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal.
“Ideally, these findings should be interpreted in a public health context, which would mean, in this case, that measures were taken to reduce the number of jobs that are insecure,” Jane E. Ferrie, PhD, of the School of Community and Social Medicine at the University of Bristol and the department of epidemiology and public health at the University College London, told Endocrine Today. “Sadly, at present, the increasing preference of employers for zero-hour contracts is moving things in the opposite direction. At the level of the individual, both workers and health care professionals should be aware that people exposed to job insecurity may be at a modest increased risk of diabetes, so any symptoms of diabetes should be taken seriously.”
Ferrie and colleagues evaluated data from previously published studies including 140,825 adults (mean age, 42.2 years) to determine the role of job insecurity on the risk for incident diabetes. Follow-up was a mean of 9.4 years.
Through follow-up, there were 3,954 incident cases of diabetes. High job insecurity prevalence ranged from 6.3% to 40.3%.
In the age- and sex-adjusted analysis, high job insecurity at baseline was associated with an increased risk for diabetes compared with those with low job insecurity (pooled OR = 1.19; 95% CI, 1.09-1.3); this was attenuated in the multivariable-adjusted analysis but remained significant (pooled OR = 1.12; 95% CI, 1.01-1.24).
“These findings need to be replicated in other populations and settings to ensure that they are not context dependent,” Ferrie said. “Research that identifies how job insecurity ‘gets under the skin’ to effect the biological processes that result in diabetes would be interesting, but less important that addressing the exposure, ie, job insecurity.” – by Amber Cox
For more information:
Jane E. Ferrie, PhD, can be reached at j.ferrie@ucl.ac.uk.
Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.
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