Abstract

This study intends to evaluate the association between psychosocial stress at work according to the model Demand-Control and changes in glycemic levels, investigating the role of gender and educational level.

The Brazilian Longitudinal Study of Adult Health (ELSA - Brasil) is a multicenter study whose. In this transversal cut, 11.922 active workers were selected at the baseline. Job strain was evaluated through the Brazilian version of the Swedish Demand-Control-Support Questionnaire (DCSQ). Glycemic levels were assessed through glycosylated haemoglobin (HbA1c). We calculated odds ratio (OR) with respective 95% of confidence intervals (CI) and multiplicative interactions for education level. The study was approved by the National Research Ethics Commission.

For men with low education, the low skill discretion is strongly associated with altered glycemia (OR 1.91, 95% CI 1.56–2.25). Equivalent pattern is observed among women of low education (OR 1.51, 95% CI 1.18–1.9). Likewise, low decision authority is associated with altered glycemia among men of low education (OR 1.62, 95% CI 1.29–1.95). Among women of low educational level, there is an association between low decision authority at work and intermediate glycemic levels (OR 1.19, 95% CI 1.01–1.37) and altered (OR 1.65, 95% CI 1.28–2 , 02).

The relationship between job strain and changes in glycemic levels was mediated by education level that stands out as a determining factor for glycemic changes at intermediate (pre-diabetes) and elevated (diabetes) levels, for both men and women.