Now Diabetes for SMOKERS

 

Active smoking may increase risk of developing Type 2 diabetes,

Elizabeth Cooney wrote that "smoking has now been tied to a 44 percent higher risk of developing Type 2 diabetes." A team of researchers reached this conclusion after reviewing "25 studies of 1.2 million people," and their findings are published in today's issue of the JAMA.

        "For heavy smokers -- a pack or more a day -- the relative risk for diabetes was" higher than "for those who smoked less than a pack a day," The "issue of causality was...'to some extent a moot point' because simply spreading the word about an association 'contributes to the general public health message about smoking.'"

 

        Although "the review doesn't show whether exercise, social class, or education affected the results," an accompanying editorial by Harvard School of Public Health researchers states that the "review may be a 'conservative underestimate of the true association between smoking and Type 2 diabetes.'"

 

        Some employees who smoke may pay higher health premiums, fines.

 

In an effort to motivate workers to kick unhealthy" smoking habits, "U.S. companies are hitting them where it hurts: in their wallets." Employees who "are overweight, smoke, or have high cholesterol" may end up paying more for health insurance. For instance, "in 2008, Tribune Co., which owns newspapers including the Chicago Tribune and the Baltimore Sun, will apply a monthly surcharge of $100 to family premiums of workers -- or dependents -- who use tobacco." In addition, an Indiana-based hospital chain, Clarian Health, "will fine employees who are smokers $5 a paycheck." But, some experts maintain that "meddling in workers' lifestyles through financial penalties risks lawsuits," and the "Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act prohibits discrimination against workers in group health plans on medical grounds."