Stockholm — Regular confrontational and emotionally demanding interactions with others can elevate a worker’s risk of developing Type 2 diabetes – and inadequate social support “seems to amplify the magnitude of these associations,” according to a new study.
A team from the Institute for Environmental Medicine used data from about 3 million people enrolled in the Swedish Work, Illness, and labor-market Participation cohort. Participants ranged in age from 30 to 60 and had no history of diabetes or a prescription for antidiabetic drugs in or before 2005.
The researchers looked at three dimensions of personal interactions on the job: general contact with people, emotional demands as a result of interacting with people with serious health or other problems, and confrontation.
Between 2006 and 2020, nearly 217,000 of the participants developed Type 2 diabetes. High levels of exposure to all three dimensions were associated with an increased risk among all participants.
For women, high levels of exposure to emotional demands and confrontation were associated with a 24% and 20% heightened risk of Type 2 diabetes, respectively. For men, those percentages were 20 and 15, respectively. The links between these two dimensions and Type 2 diabetes were stronger among participants who experienced low levels of workplace social support than they were for those who reported high levels, with the highest risk (47% greater) faced by the women whose roles entailed high emotional demands but who had low social support at work.
“Workers in human service occupations, such as health care professionals and social workers, take responsibility for the fundamental human needs of clients and witness human suffering, and in most cases, there is no reciprocity in relations with clients and patients,” the researchers say in a press release. “These are potential stressors that can result in compassion fatigue, burnout and mental health problems among workers in such occupations.”
The researchers explain that chronic stress, such as that caused by difficult interactions at work, can negatively impact the neuroendocrine system, which can lead to increased insulin resistance and decreased insulin secretion and sensitivity.
The study was published in the journal Occupational & Environmental Medicine.
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Original article published by Safety+Health an NSC publication