Kinkini Gupta
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People In Relationships Have Lower Chances Of Developing Type-2 Diabetes, Study
A new study published online in the journal BMJ Open Diabetes Research & Care discovered a very strange link between married people or people in a relationship and type-2 diabetes. Researchers found that married people and people in a relationship regardless of whether the people are happy or sad or stressed, are at a lower risk of developing type-2 diabetes. This apparently applies to older people especially. This research is based on a previous study conducted by experts from the University of Luxembourg and the University of Ottawa in Canada which found out a link between happy marriage and good health benefits.
Researchers state that type-2 diabetes is linked with more than one social health dimensions including loneliness. Social isolation, social support, living arrangements and social network size. But, when a person is married or is living with a partner, the risk of these health problems reduces and that is turn reduces their risk of developing diabetes.
Researchers examined the data from the English Longitudinal Study and found out that most of the people between the age range of 50 and 89 did not have diabetes and about 76 per cent of the people were either married or were living together. The researchers found that the nature and quality of the relationship had little to no effect to the average levels of blood glucose, indicating that having a supportive or strained relationship was less important than just having a relationship at all. The final research finding was that, marital/cohabitating relationships were inversely related to HbA1c levels regardless of dimensions of spousal support or strain.
Experts conducted a detailed analysis of people who experienced marital transitions like divorces. They found that these people experienced very significant changes in their HbA1c levels and odds of pre-diabetes. An important point to note is that there was no significant impact on the blood glucose level because of the quality of the relationship. This brought them to the conclusion that having a troubled and strained relationship was better than having no relationship at all, especially for old people.