Sleepless
nights and stress increase male diabetes risk - 28
July 2008
Older
men with psychological stress face more than double
the risk of developing type-2 diabetes,
new research claims.
The study found that anxiety, insomnia, depression,
apathy and fatigue can affect the risk of the disease,
which affects over two million people in the
UK
.
But the same link was not observed between older women
with psychological distress and type-2 diabetes.
Scientists studied 2,127 men born between 1938 and
1957 who had normal blood glucose levels.
They determined their level of psychological distress
both at the beginning and end of the study and the men
were tested for diabetes eight to ten years later.
The results, published in the journal Diabetic
Medicine, revealed that men with the highest levels of
psychological distress were 2.2 times more likely to
develop type-2 diabetes than those with the lowest
levels.
Altogether 103 men developed type-2 diabetes.
The link was independent of other factors including
age, body mass index (BMI), family history of
diabetes, smoking, physical activity and
socio-economic background.
Dr Iain Frame, director of research at charity
Diabetes UK, said it is 'intriguing' that
psychological distress appears to affect type-2
diabetes risk only in men and said it would be
'interesting to find out why'.
'The results suggest that it could be due to a
hormonal or behavioural influence,' he added.
'We already know from previous studies that stress is
considered to be a risk factor for type two diabetes
and others have looked at the link between sleep
disorders, such as insomnia, and the condition. This
research appears to confirm that there might be
something in this.'
Lead researcher Professor Anders Ekbom from the
Karolinska Institute,
Sweden
, commented: 'Genetic and environmental factors are
involved in the development of type-2 diabetes.
'We already knew that psychological distress and
depression are risk factors for heart
disease and suspected they may play a part in
developing type-2 diabetes, which is corroborated by
this research.
'The link could be a result of the way psychological
distress affects the brain's role in regulating
hormones or perhaps because depression influences a
person's diet and level of physical activity in a
negative way.'
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