A large study from Sweden suggests that having a job that requires dealing with people face-to-face or over the phone—like working in health care, teaching, social work, customer service, or transport—may increase the risk of developing type 2 diabetes. The study also found that workers who don’t feel supported by their managers or coworkers face an even higher risk.
Researchers have long known that stress at work can affect physical health. Job pressure, fear of losing a job, bullying, and feeling like hard work isn’t rewarded have all been linked to a higher chance of getting type 2 diabetes.
But this new study looked at whether jobs that involve regular interaction with other people—especially in emotional or confrontational situations—could also play a role.
To explore this, researchers used a national database in Sweden that tracks health, work, and other information for more than five million people aged 16 to 65.
They focused on about 3 million people aged 30 to 60 who were working in 2005 and did not have diabetes at the time. The researchers then tracked these people’s health records from 2006 to 2020 to see who developed type 2 diabetes.
The study looked at three types of people-related job stress. First, how often workers had to interact with other people. Second, whether their jobs involved emotional demands—such as helping people who are sick, upset, or in crisis.
And third, whether their jobs involved dealing with conflict or angry people. The researchers also checked how much support workers felt they had from their colleagues and supervisors.
They found that jobs with high levels of emotional stress and confrontation were linked to a higher chance of getting type 2 diabetes. This was true for both men and women. In men, high emotional demands increased the risk by 20%, and confrontation raised it by 15%. In women, emotional demands raised the risk by 24%, and confrontation by 20%.
Interestingly, simply having frequent contact with people (without emotional or confrontational stress) only increased the risk in men. In women, this link disappeared when job control—the amount of decision-making power a worker had—was taken into account.
One key finding was that low social support at work made things worse. Women who had emotionally demanding jobs and low support from coworkers or bosses had a 47% higher risk of developing type 2 diabetes compared to women in less demanding jobs with strong support.
The researchers believe that ongoing stress may be the main reason for this connection. When people are under constant emotional strain, the body produces more stress hormones like cortisol. Over time, this can lead to changes in how the body handles sugar, such as making insulin less effective or reducing the amount of insulin the body makes.
This sets the stage for type 2 diabetes. Not having enough emotional or practical support at work may make this even worse, by increasing feelings of being overwhelmed or alone.
Of course, the study has some limits. It was based on average job conditions within specific occupations, not personal experiences. So it couldn’t account for differences in how individual people feel about their work or how their specific workplaces function.
The study also didn’t include people’s full job histories or their lifestyle habits like diet and exercise, which can also affect diabetes risk.
Still, the results highlight something important: jobs that involve caring for or helping others, especially in tough situations, can take a real toll on physical health. People in these roles often must hide their true emotions and act calm or kind even when they feel stressed or upset.
This emotional mismatch can build up over time, leading to what some call “compassion fatigue” or burnout. And in jobs like health care or social work, workers often give much more than they receive in return, which can deepen the stress.
In conclusion, the study adds strong evidence that stress from people-focused jobs is not just an emotional burden—it may also raise the risk of serious physical conditions like type 2 diabetes. Having support at work can help reduce that risk, showing the importance of creating healthier and more supportive workplaces, especially for those in high-stress roles.
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The research findings can be found in Occupational and Environmental Medicine.
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