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New York: People who suffer from job burnout may be prone to developing type 2 diabetes, according to a study of 677 mostly male middle-aged workers, published in the journal Psychosomatic Medicine.
The findings in this study, investigators say, suggest that chronic job burnout - the core components of which are emotional exhaustion, physical fatigue and cognitive weariness - might be a risk factor for the onset of type 2 diabetes in apparently healthy individuals.
"It has been suggested that stress plays a significant role in the [development] of type 2 diabetes," lead author Dr Samuel Melamed.
"Emotional burnout may pose risk to health. Earlier studies have found it to be associated with cardiovascular disease risk, sleep disturbances, impaired fertility and musculoskeletal pain.
"Our finding suggests that the potential damage to health may be greater than suspected and it may also include a risk of diabetes," he said.
Of the 677 workers in the study, 17 developed type 2 diabetes during the 3 to 5 years of follow-up. The investigators found that workers who experienced job burnout were 1.84 times more likely to develop type 2 diabetes, even after accounting for the effects of age, sex, obesity, smoking, leisure time physical activity, job category and other factors that could contribute to the development of the disease.
"Knowledge and implementation of stress management techniques such as exercising, getting enough sleep, dieting, assertiveness training, may prevent burnout or reduce it before it becomes chronic, thereby reducing the potential risk of physical health impairment."
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