Construction Workers, More Likely to Develop Diabetes?

Filed in archive Information on May 5, 2007

Ongoing screening of Dublin-based construction workers organized by the Construction Workers Health Trust (CWHT) and is being carried out by the Department of Endocrinology at St James's Hospital, revealed that nearly half of construction workers tested are overweight and 10 per cent are pre-diabetic.

According to CWHT CEO Mr Brian Daly:

"The preliminary findings of the study are that 10 per cent have pre-diabetes, putting them in the high risk category of having Type 2 diabetes in the future and some cases of actual Type 2 diabetes have also been diagnosed in those screened to date.

42 per cent of construction workers smoke as opposed to 25 per cent of the general population so we have some work to do there. Broadly speaking one third of those we screen have high blood pressure, high cholesterol, or both. This is largely due to lifestyle issues."

The culprit to these findings is mainly the unhealthy lifestyles of construction workers: eating habits, the stuff they eat, smoking among others -according to the survey.

Every year the CWHT conducts free health screening to over 10,000 construction workers across Ireland -a service that should be part of any national health service.

Source: Irish Medical News