Shift work and the risk of diabetes mellitus among Japanese male factory workers

Immunometabolism: Is it under the eye of the clock?

“…Non-traditional working hours has been linked to several metabolic and immune related disorders, including obesity [42], diabetes [43,44] stroke [44], atherosclerosis [45] and coronary heart disease [46]. Various cancers have been linked to disrupted circadian cycles, such as lymphatic [47], prostate [48,49] and breast cancer [50].…”

Aging in the circadian system: Considerations for health, disease prevention and longevity

“…Flight attendants frequently traveling across time zones exhibit cognitive deficits associated with reductions in temporal lobe structures (Cho, 2001;Cho et al, 2000). Numerous studies show that shift workers have a higher incidence of cancer (Conlon et al, 2007), diabetes (Morikawa et al, 2005), ulcers (Koda et al, 2000), hypertension and cardiovascular disease (Kivimaki et al, 2006), psychological disorders (Bildt and Michelsen, 2002), and a host of other clinical issues. These findings, although largely correlational, point to a critical role for internal circadian timing in maintaining normal brain functioning and peripheral physiology.…”

Is exposure to chronic stressors a risk factor for Type 2 diabetes?

“…Most of the behavioral risk factors were included as control variables and the relationships were not reported. In the few studies that reported them, however, the findings were similar to those seen in cross-sectional studies: An increasing risk for the development of T2D was associated with increasing age (61), body mass index (BMI) (46), and waist girth (28), and risk was greater in people with hypertension (79), limited physical activity (81), and in smokers (43).…”

“…In both studies the associations remained after controlling for an extensive list of behavioral risk factors for T2D (42). In the overtime study, the researchers also found a nonsignificantly increased risk of T2D in shift workers compared with white-collar (nonshift) workers (61), which may be due to either shift work itself or to the social position associated with it within the occupational hierarchy. Alternating shift work, along with age, BMI, liver enzymes, and lack of exercise, was associated with a greater risk of T2D in another Japanese occupational cohort (83).…”

“…The Japanese have used their system of annual medical check-ups in large occupational cohorts to look at several aspects of work that are presumed to be stressful (42, 43, 61, 83). For example, these routinely collected data have shown an elevated risk for the development of T2D in those who worked extensive overtime (61) and those who found the introduction of new technology stressful (42). In both studies the associations remained after controlling for an extensive list of behavioral risk factors for T2D (42).…”