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The relationship between employment status and insulin resistance in the Korean elderly population

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Abstract

Background/aims

This study aimed to investigate the relationship between employment status and insulin resistance in the Korean elderly population.

Methods

The study included 2325 healthy participants (862 men and 1463 women) who did not have diabetes, were 60–74 years old, and participated in the 2007–2010 Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Their employment status was categorized as employed or unemployed. The homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) was used to assess insulin sensitivity. Insulin resistance was defined as values greater than the 75th percentile of the HOMA-IR (> 2.67 in men and > 2.87 in women).

Results

Mean HOMA-IR values were significantly higher for both sexes in the unemployed group than in the employed group. Compared with the unemployed group, the odds ratios (95% confidence intervals) for insulin resistance in the employed group were 0.55 (0.34–0.87) in men and 0.68 (0.47–0.98) in women after adjusting for confounders.

Conclusions

Being employed was significantly associated with a lower risk of insulin resistance in the Korean elderly population. These findings suggest that insulin sensitivity could be increased by increasing physical activity through occupational activities in the elderly population.

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Funding

The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship and/or publication of this article.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Family Medicine, Gangnam Severance Hospital, 211 Eonju-ro, Gangnam-gu, Seoul, 06273, Republic of Korea

    Jae-Min Park, Jae-June Dong, Ji-Won Lee & Yong-Jae Lee

  2. Department of Family Medicine, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea

    Jae-June Dong, Ji-Won Lee, Jae-Yong Shim & Yong-Jae Lee

Authors
  1. Jae-Min Park
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  2. Jae-June Dong
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  3. Ji-Won Lee
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Yong-Jae Lee.

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Conflict of interest

The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Human and animal rights

The Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey was approved by the Institutional Review Board of the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (approval numbers: 2007-02CON-04-P, 2008-04EXP-01-C, 2009-01CON-03-2C, and 2010-02CON-21-C). In addition, this study was performed in accordance with the ethical principles of the Declaration of Helsinki.

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Written informed consent was obtained from all participants.

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Cite this article

Park, JM., Dong, JJ., Lee, JW. et al. The relationship between employment status and insulin resistance in the Korean elderly population. Aging Clin Exp Res 30, 1385–1390 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40520-018-0934-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40520-018-0934-9

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