Marital, cohabitating relationships tied to better glycaemic regulation among older adults

Older adults with spouses or partners appear to have lower haemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) values than their counterparts without partners, regardless of the quality of the relationships, according to a study.

The study used data from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (n=3,335) and included adults aged 50–89 years without previously diagnosed diabetes. Biomarker data from waves 2 (2004/2005), 4 (2008/2009), and 6 (2012/2013) were used to analyse changes in HbA1c levels within individuals in relation to the participants’ marital indicators (marital status, social support from spouse, and social strain from spouse) over time.

During wave 2 (2004/2005), majority of the participants (76 percent) were married or cohabitating. Participants who were unpartnered at baseline tended to be older, female, in lower income quintiles, have depression, and currently smoke as compared with those who were married or cohabitating (p<0.05 for all). Unpartnered participants were also less likely to engage in physical activity, be currently employed, and have children or other immediate family members (p<0.05 for all).

In linear fixed effect models, HbA1c values were lower by 0.21 percent (95 percent confidence interval [CI], −0.31 to −0.10) among participants who were in marital/cohabitating relationships than among those who were unpartnered.

Moreover, spousal support and spousal strain showed no significant effect on HbA1c values.

The findings suggest that older adults without pre-existing diabetes who are experiencing marital or cohabitating partnership transitions may be at risk of worsening glycaemic levels.