Marriage and Diabetes
According to a study by the University of Utah women who reported more conflict in their marriages were more likely than other women to have "metabolic syndrome". Study researcher Nancy Henry noted that men in such relationships, unlike women, aren’t at increased risk of developing the physiological conditions of metabolic syndrome.
"Women seem to be more relationship oriented," says Henry, a doctoral student at the University of Utah who also works at the Veteran Affairs Salt Lake City Medical Center. "We know by research that women tend to base their self-concept on relationships, how they are doing, how things are going for them. And we think that’s the reason we’ve shown that negative relationship issues seem to take a greater toll on women emotionally and physically."
This study continues a trend of other ground breaking research that focused on the relationship between diabetes and the size of various parts of a woman’s body. Diabetic Investor finds it refreshing that unlike the studies that focused on woman and diabetes there does not appear to be a gender bias in the University of Utah study. Although the study did not specifically focus on men at least men were given equally representation.
It’s difficult to gauge the impact of this research although Diabetic Investor believes divorce attorneys will soon use this information in upcoming cases. In the good old days divorce cases centered on old fashioned issues like infidelity and incompatibility. Armed with this research Diabetic Investor can see attorneys asking for greater alimony based on the fact that diabetes is a costly disease and the bad marriage was the likely cause of the diabetes.
Although the FDA has made no public comments on this research Diabetic Investor believes it may well result in changes to how diabetes drug studies are done. Besides looking for the increased risk of cardiovascular events, companies may soon be asked to determine the happiness of the study participant’s marriage.
Diabetic Investor could not reach either the American Diabetes Association or the American Association of Diabetes Educators for comment as we wondered will marriage counseling become as important as monitoring glucose levels, eating a proper diet and exercise. Certified Diabetes Educators already have a host of issues to discuss with their patients and it seems like an extraordinary burden to add marriage counseling to their already heavy workload.
Not being an expert in social trends Diabetic Investor can’t help but wonder what impact this research will have on single men and woman considering marriage. Realizing that diabetes is serious disease couples may consider just living together rather than risk developing diabetes. We suspect that single men, many of whom already weary of marriage, will use this research as another excuse not to pop the question; reasoning that if the marriage goes bad they could be liable for causing diabetes of the woman they once loved.
Overall it’s reassuring to know that researchers are spending their time, effort and money on these ground breaking subjects. It must get pretty boring studying such mundane issues such as how to better control diabetes or even prevent diabetes from occurring in the first place. Diabetic Investor can’t wait for the next batch of studies that will surely be done exploring diabetes and people who are not married. You know there is a research team out there who has read the University of Utah study and wants to check their hypothesis that there is a correlation between being single and diabetes. Let’s just hope they study both single men and women, if nothing else perhaps we can end the gender bias in diabetes research.
