Inability to Cope with Stress May Increase Risk of Diabetes Among Men

Low resistance to stress in men at age 18 years can increase the risk of type 2 diabetes in adulthood by up to 50%, revealed a new study.

 The study published in Diabetologywas by Dr Casey Crump, Department of Medicine, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA, and colleagues in Sweden and the USA. It examined the cohort of all 1,534,425 military conscripts in Sweden during 1969-1997, the men did not have diabetes.

‘Low stress resilience earlier in life is associated with a higher risk of type 2 diabetes, possibly mediated by behavioral and physiological factors.’

They assessed them for their stress resilience through a standardized psychological assessment, rating it based on a scale of one to nine. Next, the team followed up the development of type 2 diabetes in these men by looking at outpatient and inpatient diagnoses from 1987 through 2012.

The results revealed that 20 percent of the men who scored stress resilience from one to three were 51 percent more prone to developing type 2 diabetes than the ones who scored 7 to 9 in the scale. The researchers found out that low-stress resilience increased the chances of developing the disease.

The authors conclude, "These findings suggest that psychosocial function and ability to cope with stress may play an important long-term role in etiological pathways for type 2 diabetes. Additional studies will be needed to elucidate the specific underlying causal factors, which may help inform more effective preventive interventions across the lifespan."