People in certain occupations have a three-times-higher risk of type 2 diabetes compared to those in other jobs, probably because of lifestyle factors, a nationwide study in Sweden suggests.
Getting these workers to ramp up physical activity could be the first step to preventing the disease, the researchers say.
“The way to target the workplace is by finding employees at the highest risk,” study leader Dr. Sofia Carlsson from the Institute of Environmental Medicine at the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm told Reuters Health by phone. “We wanted to go through all occupations in the entire Swedish population and see where the risks and prevalence of type 2 diabetes were highest.”
