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Purpose: Diabetes is a growing global health concern. Environmental exposure to airborne particles has recently been identified as a risk factor for type 2 diabetes. Despite hundred- or thousandfold concentrations in many occupational settings, epidemiological studies in workers are very scarce. This study aims to quantify the association between occupational inorganic particle exposure and incident type 2 diabetes among Swedish construction workers.

Methods: This was a retrospective cohort analysis in the Swedish Construction Workers’ Cohort (Bygghälsokohorten), with data from occupational health examinations between 1971 and 1993. Exposure assessment was based on a cohort-specific job-exposure matrix. Data from the National Patient Register, the National Diabetes Register, and the National Prescribed Drug Register were combined to identify incident type 2 diabetes cases. Longitudinal, multivariable Cox proportional hazards regression models were fit to estimate adjusted hazard ratios (aHR).

Results: We included 275,941 male workers with a mean follow-up time of 31 years. Slightly more than half were exposed to inorganic dusts or fumes. In crude analyses, workers exposed to inorganic dust and fumes were at an increased risk of type 2 diabetes. After confounder adjustment, only workers exposed to high levels of cement, concrete, and quartz dust were associated with an increased risk of type 2 diabetes (strongest for high levels of cement dust, aHR 1.12, 95% CI 1.02‒1.24).

Conclusions: In this large cohort of construction workers with long follow-up, workers with high exposure to cement, concrete, and quartz dust were at a moderately increased risk of type 2 diabetes.