Work stress is associated with diabetes and pre-diabetes: cross-sectional results from the MIPH Industrial Cohort Studies

Background: Diabetes is rapidly rising globally, and the relation of psychosocial stress in workplace to diabetes and prediabetes is not well investigated.

Purpose: The aim of the study was to examine the association of work stress with diabetes and prediabetes in a sample of German industrial workers.

Method: In this cross-sectional survey of an occupational cohort (n = 2,674, 77 % male), work stress was measured by the Effort-Reward Imbalance (ERI) Questionnaire. Diabetic status, i.e., diabetes and prediabetes, were diagnosed by glycated hemoglobin A1c criterion or fasting plasma glucose criterion supplemented by self-reports.

Results: The overall prevalence rates of diabetes and prediabetes were 3.5 and 42.2 %, respectively. Using ordinal logistic regression with adjustment for potential confounding factors, high ERI at work was associated with diabetes-related ordinal variable (odds ratio [OR], 1.27; 95 % confidence interval [95 % CI], 1.02-1.58) and prediabetes-related ordinal variable (OR, 1.26; 95 % CI, 1.01-1.58) in men, whereas the associations in women were somewhat less pronounced and did not reach statistical significance.

Conclusion: The findings indicate that work stress in terms of ERI is associated with diabetes and prediabetes in German industrial male workers. If supported by prospective evidence, results point to a new approach towards primary prevention of diabetes.