The Labour Market and Health Effects of a Diabetes Warning: Evidence of Gender and Age Differences from the Lifelines Cohort Study

To promote early detection of diabetes and ameliorate the negative consequences of diabetes, some governments provide diabetes screenings. This paper contributes to the literature by being the first to investigate whether an issued warning affects the individual’s employment status. Additionally, our analysis also explores health effects, stratified by gender, age, and education , in order to receive indications for potential pathways of the employment effects. By doing so, we present the first results in the literature for individuals under 40. Using a multidimensional regression discontinuity design, we investigate the short- and long-run effects of a diabetes risk warning issued by Lifelines, a Dutch cohort study. In particular, low-educated individuals below 40 increase their labour market activities after a warning, which is generally more pronounced and also persistent for women. Surprisingly, this is not matched by similar strong effects on health outcomes by either gender. Health effects are very heterogeneous by gender, age and educational group. Older, highly educated women seem to benefit particularly strongly from a warning, as a significant reduction in the 4-year mortality rate indicates.