Stress and Diabetes

Stress is the key cause of most of our disease and one of the risk factors for Diabetes Mellitus. Previous research has found that stress in adulthood is linked to an increased risk of Type 2 Diabetes. However, it is unknown whether low stress resilience earlier in life is related to subsequent development of Type 2 Diabetes in adulthood.

In line with the same, a study published in Diabetologia studied 1,534,425 teenage boys (18 years of age); none of whom had Diabetes before the initiation the study. The participants underwent standardized psychological assessment for stress resilience (scale 1-9) and were followed up for Type 2 Diabetes. It was observed that 34,008 men were diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes. In addition, compared to men with the highest resistance to stress when they were 18, those with the lowest stress resistance were 51 per cent more likely to have been diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes later, the investigators found.

These findings only suggest that low stress resistance may play a long-term role in the etiological pathways for Type 2 Diabetes. Further elucidation is required to help identify the underlying factors about the cause-and-effect relationship between stress resilience and Diabetes risk.

Source: Diabetologia