A Canadian study found that women who work 45 hours or more each week could be more likely to develop diabetes. The study tracked 7,065 workers aged 35 and older in Ontario, Canada, over 12 years. None of them had diabetes at the start of the study or during the first two years of follow-up. About 8% of the women and 12% of the men did develop diabetes by the end of the study period. Work hours didn’t appear to influence the risk of diabetes for men. But women working at least 45 hours a week were 63% more likely to develop diabetes than women working 35 to 40 hours weekly. Lead author Mahee Gilbert-Ouimet, a researcher at the Institute for Work & Health of Toronto, said: “Our study did not allow us to explain the gender differences.” Working more hours on the job and at home might make women more prone to chronic stress, inflammation and hormonal changes that could potentially contribute to diabetes, researchers note in BMJ Open Diabetes Research & Care. According to the World Health Organization, nearly one in 10 adults had diabetes worldwide in 2014, and the disease will be the seventh leading cause of death by 2030. Most of these people have type 2 diabetes, which is associated with obesity and aging and happens when the body can’t properly use or make enough of the hormone insulin to convert blood sugar into energy. Left untreated, diabetes can lead to nerve damage, amputations, blindness, heart disease and strokes. Daniel Lackland, a researcher at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston who wasn’t involved in the study, said that more research is needed to determine exactly why long hours or stressful work might lead to diabetes, but, people can still make some changes to try to minimize their risk. “Shorter bouts of work and shifts might be assessed. Exercise breaks, or getting lots of activity outside work, or other lifestyle decisions like eating well or avoiding smoking might potentially help,” Lackland said by email.