Characteristics of Workplace Psychosocial Resources and Risk of Diabetes: A Prospective Cohort Study

Abstract

Objective: To examine whether characteristics of workplace psychosocial resources are associated with the risk of type 2 diabetes among employees.

Research design and methods: Participants were 49,835 employees (77% women, aged 40-65 years, and diabetes free at baseline) from the Finnish Public Sector cohort study. Characteristics of horizontal (culture of collaboration and support from colleagues) and vertical (leadership quality and organizational procedural justice) psychosocial resources were self-reported. Incident type 2 diabetes (n = 2,148) was ascertained through linkage to electronic health records from national registers. We used latent class modeling to assess the clustering of resource characteristics. Cox proportional hazards models were used to examine the relationship between the identified clusters and risk of type 2 diabetes during 10.9 years of follow-up, adjusting for age, sex, marital status, educational level, type of employment contract, comorbidity, and diagnosed mental disorders.

Results: We identified four patterns of workplace psychosocial resources: unfavorable, favorable vertical, favorable horizontal, and favorable vertical and horizontal. Compared with unfavorable, favorable vertical (hazard ratio 0.87 [95% CI 0.78; 0.97]), favorable horizontal (0.77 [0.67; 0.88]), and favorable vertical and horizontal (0.77 [0.68; 0.86]) resources were associated with a lower risk of type 2 diabetes, with the strongest associations seen in employees at age ≥55 years (Pinteraction = 0.03). These associations were robust to multivariable adjustments and were not explained by reverse causation.

Conclusions: A favorable culture of collaboration, support from colleagues, leadership quality, and organizational procedural justice are associated with a lower risk of employees developing type 2 diabetes than in those without such favorable workplace psychosocial resources.

Figure 1

Flowchart of the study population.

Figure 2

Workplace psychosocial resource pattern in each latent class estimated among employee’s first participation in wave 2000–2014 (N = 49,835), including unfavorable (24%), favorable vertical (29%), favorable horizontal (18%), and favorable vertical and horizontal (29%) classes.

Figure 3

Associations of workplace psychosocial resources with incident type 2 diabetes according to latent workplace resource clusters and individual type of workplace resources (N = 49,835). *Mutually adjusted for one another. Q, quartile.