Burnout and risk of type 2 diabetes: a prospective study of apparently healthy employed persons.
OBJECTIVE
This prospective study was designed to test the extent to which the onset of type 2 diabetes in apparently healthy individuals was predicted by burnout, a unique affective response to combined exposure to chronic stressors.


METHODS
The study participants were 677 employed men and women who were followed up for 3 to 5 years (mean = 3.6 years) for the onset of diagnosed type 2 diabetes. Burnout was assessed by the Shirom-Melamed Burnout Measure with its three subscales: emotional exhaustion, physical fatigue, and cognitive weariness.


RESULTS
The burnout symptoms were remarkably consistent over the follow-up period irrespective of changes in place of work and in employment status. During the follow-up period, 17 workers developed type 2 diabetes. Logistic regression results indicated that burnout was associated with a 1.84-fold increased risk of diabetes (95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.19-2.85) even after adjusting for age, sex, body mass index, smoking, alcohol use, leisure time physical activity, initial job category, and follow-up duration. In a subsample of 507 workers, the relative risk of diabetes was found to be much higher after additional control for blood pressure levels (odds ratio = 4.32, 95% CI = 1.75-10.67), available only for this subsample.


CONCLUSIONS
These findings suggest that chronic burnout might be a risk factor for the onset of type 2 diabetes in apparently healthy individuals.
Melamed
Samuel
S
Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Ramat Aviv, Tel Aviv, Israel. smelamed@post.tau.ac.il
Shirom
Arie
A
Toker
Sharon
S
Shapira
Itzhak
I
D000328:Adult; D002055:Burnout, Professional; D003071:Cognition; D003924:Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 / Q000523:psychology*; D004644:Emotions; D004651:Employment; D005221:Fatigue; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D013315:Stress, Psychological