How sweet is your love? Disentangling the role of marital status and quality on average glycemic levels among adults 50 years and older in the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing
Introduction The health benefits of marriage have been widely documented and, to a lesser extent, the effects of marital quality. Marital relationships may be particularly relevant to the health of older adults. This study explores the associations of marital status and marital quality with average...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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BMJ Publishing Group
2023-02-01
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| Series: | BMJ Open Diabetes Research & Care |
| Online Access: | https://drc.bmj.com/content/11/1/e003080.full |
| _version_ | 1797903581361209344 |
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| author | Katherine J Ford Annie Robitaille |
| author_facet | Katherine J Ford Annie Robitaille |
| author_sort | Katherine J Ford |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Introduction The health benefits of marriage have been widely documented and, to a lesser extent, the effects of marital quality. Marital relationships may be particularly relevant to the health of older adults. This study explores the associations of marital status and marital quality with average glycemic levels in older adults using longitudinal data.Research design and methods Our sample consisted of adults aged 50–89 years without previously diagnosed diabetes from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (n=3335). We used biomarker data from waves 2 (2004/2005), 4 (2008/2009) and 6 (2012/2013) to analyze changes in hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) levels within individuals in relation to their marital indicators (marital status, social support from spouse, and social strain from spouse) over time using linear fixed effect models.Results We found that being married was associated with lower HbA1c values (β: −0.21%; 95% CI −0.31% to −0.10%) among adults without pre-existing diabetes. Spousal support and spousal strain were generally not associated with HbA1c values.Conclusions It seems that marital relationships, regardless of the quality of the relationship, are associated with lower HbA1c values for male and female adults aged over 50 years. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-10T09:35:13Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-498c004db47f4fbb9972de52f22c0afd |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2052-4897 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-10T09:35:13Z |
| publishDate | 2023-02-01 |
| publisher | BMJ Publishing Group |
| record_format | Article |
| series | BMJ Open Diabetes Research & Care |
| spelling | doaj.art-498c004db47f4fbb9972de52f22c0afd2023-02-18T00:00:10ZengBMJ Publishing GroupBMJ Open Diabetes Research & Care2052-48972023-02-0111110.1136/bmjdrc-2022-003080How sweet is your love? Disentangling the role of marital status and quality on average glycemic levels among adults 50 years and older in the English Longitudinal Study of AgeingKatherine J Ford0Annie Robitaille1Institute for Research on Socio-Economic Inequality (IRSEI), University of Luxembourg, Esch-sur-Alzette, LuxembourgInterdisciplinary School of Health Sciences, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario, CanadaIntroduction The health benefits of marriage have been widely documented and, to a lesser extent, the effects of marital quality. Marital relationships may be particularly relevant to the health of older adults. This study explores the associations of marital status and marital quality with average glycemic levels in older adults using longitudinal data.Research design and methods Our sample consisted of adults aged 50–89 years without previously diagnosed diabetes from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (n=3335). We used biomarker data from waves 2 (2004/2005), 4 (2008/2009) and 6 (2012/2013) to analyze changes in hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) levels within individuals in relation to their marital indicators (marital status, social support from spouse, and social strain from spouse) over time using linear fixed effect models.Results We found that being married was associated with lower HbA1c values (β: −0.21%; 95% CI −0.31% to −0.10%) among adults without pre-existing diabetes. Spousal support and spousal strain were generally not associated with HbA1c values.Conclusions It seems that marital relationships, regardless of the quality of the relationship, are associated with lower HbA1c values for male and female adults aged over 50 years.https://drc.bmj.com/content/11/1/e003080.full |
| spellingShingle | Katherine J Ford Annie Robitaille How sweet is your love? Disentangling the role of marital status and quality on average glycemic levels among adults 50 years and older in the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing BMJ Open Diabetes Research & Care |
| title | How sweet is your love? Disentangling the role of marital status and quality on average glycemic levels among adults 50 years and older in the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing |
| title_full | How sweet is your love? Disentangling the role of marital status and quality on average glycemic levels among adults 50 years and older in the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing |
| title_fullStr | How sweet is your love? Disentangling the role of marital status and quality on average glycemic levels among adults 50 years and older in the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing |
| title_full_unstemmed | How sweet is your love? Disentangling the role of marital status and quality on average glycemic levels among adults 50 years and older in the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing |
| title_short | How sweet is your love? Disentangling the role of marital status and quality on average glycemic levels among adults 50 years and older in the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing |
| title_sort | how sweet is your love disentangling the role of marital status and quality on average glycemic levels among adults 50 years and older in the english longitudinal study of ageing |
| url | https://drc.bmj.com/content/11/1/e003080.full |
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