Working in shifts leads to increased risk of diabetes

The chances of developing type 2 Diabetes Mellitus are more in shift workers due to their genetic risk according to latest research.

If shift work has been long the risk of type 2 diabetes mellitus increased, with problems like weight gain and poor sleep which can produce unhealthy habits such as eating irregularity and getting less exercise.

In the present study scientists at Brigham and Women's Hospital, based in Boston, Massachusetts, US, focus on the impact of shift work and how it was examined to check if it modified the relationship between genetic risk for type 2 diabetes and existing type 2 diabetes.

The scientists retrieved 270,000 people of shift work and reviewed with records taken from the UK Biobank database which emphasis on employment histories of 70,000 people and 44,000 genetic data of people. From that more than 6,000 people had type 2 diabetes mellitus.

From that information, they identified more than 100 genetic variants associated with type 2 diabetes mellitus and further they developed a genetic risk score for type 2 diabetes mellitus. For this research, they examine data from tens of thousands of workers.

From their research, they found that frequent shift work, particularly at night might increase risk of type 2 diabetes mellitus, regardless of genetic predisposition.
Dr. Celine Vetter, who examined the study and explained: “We observe dose-response relationship between frequency of night shift and type 2 diabetes mellitus, which suggest that people who do shift work generating more chances of type 2 diabetes mellitus, regardless of genetic predisposition. This help us to understand one piece of puzzle: night shift frequency plays key role.”

The chances for development of type 2 diabetes mellitus are more in all shift workers except permanent night workers & permanent day workers. People who worked irregularly or in rotating shifts had a 44 % increased risk of type 2 diabetes mellitus.

Still no evidence were identified on shift work properly so researchers are trying to investigate the link further.

Dr. Frank Scheer (Research fellow) said: “Our investigation is to finding out there does not seem to be an interaction between type 2 diabetes mellitus risk factors which is novel and which further requires its replication in future studies, especially in non-European ancestry.”

This study was present in the journal of Diabetes care.
From researches, it was identified that working in irregular shifts associated with more fatigued and higher calorie snacks, so eat less calorie food and exercise daily to overcome the negative effects of shift work.