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Cohabiting people tend to have lower blood sugar levels, even if the relationship isn’t the best. This is the conclusion of a study that warns of social isolation and its relationship with the risk of type 2 diabetes.
Researchers believe that living with another person is an important source of social support in middle and older ageaccording to the study published in the British Medical Journal’s Diabetes Journal.
The team also found that the effects on sugar levels were the same regardless of whether the relationship was healthy or not.
The study is based previous works who have identified the health benefits of marriage and cohabitation, particularly in older adults.
Simultaneously, other scientific studies have concluded that the risk of type 2 diabetes is associated with social isolation, loneliness and dimension of the interaction network.
“Increased support for older adults in a situation of loss of a marital relationship / cohabitation by divorce or mourningand the dismantling of negative stereotypes in romantic relationships in a later life stagecan be starting points to face health risks”, explained Katherine Fordlead author of the study and researcher at Carleton University in Ottawa.
More specifically, these risks include “the deterioration of glycemic regulationassociated with marital transitions in older adults”, explained the researcher, quoted by The Guardian.
The team of scientists investigated whether there was a relationship between marital status and marital quality with average blood glucose levels in older adults using biomarker data from the English Longitudinal Study of Aging (ELSA).
This is a sample of adults living in England with 50 years or older, as well as its partners, who provide bi-annual data. Data were used from 3,335 adults aged between 50 and 89 years, with no diagnosis of diabetes between 2004 and 2013.
Participants provided blood samples to measure their average blood glucose levels and they were asked if they had a husband, wife or partner they lived with. Other questions were asked in order to understand whether the relationship was healthy or not.
In addition to data on the relationship, information was collected on several factorssuch as details about age, income, employment, smoking, physical activity, depression, body mass index, and having other types of interactions on your social network (not digital).
The study also tested the odds of prediabetes, which were lower among those who were married or who lived in de facto union.
Data analysis over time showed that people whose relationships have changedfor example through divorce, have also suffered changes significant changes in your blood sugar levels and chances of pre-diabetes.
Surprisingly, the relationship quality did not make much difference to average blood glucose levels, suggesting that having a supportive or straining relationship was Less important than just having a relationship.
As an observational study, the investigators said they were unable to establish causeor, for example, whether people with worse health were more likely to get divorced.
ZAP // 
