title: Association between Social Relationship and Glycemic Control among Older Japanese: JAGES Cross-Sectional Study.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The present study examined whether social support, informal socializing and social participation are associated with glycemic control in older people.
  
  
  METHODS
  Data for this population-based cross-sectional study was obtained from the Japan Gerontological Evaluation Study (JAGES) 2010 linked to the annual health check-up data in Japan. We analyzed 9,554 individuals aged ≥65 years without the certification of needed long-term care. Multivariate logistic regression models were used to assess the effect of social support, informal socializing and social participations on glycemic control. The outcome measure was HbA1c ≥8.4%.
  
  
  RESULTS
  1.3% of the participants had a level of HbA1c over 8.4%. Better glycemic control was significantly associated with meeting with friends one to four times per month (odds ratio [OR] 0.51, 95% confidence interval [CI]0.30-0.89, compared to meeting with friends a few times per year or less) and participation in sports groups (OR 0.50, 95% CI 0.26-0.97) even after adjusting for other variables. Meeting with friends more than twice per week, receiving social support, and being married were not associated with better control of diabetes.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Meeting with friends occasionally is associated with better glycemic control among older people.
authors.affiliation: Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, United States of America.|Department of General Internal Medicine, Hiroshima University of Medical Science, Hiroshima, Japan.
authors.forename: Kenichi
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7152-056X
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Yokobayashi
authors.affiliation: Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, United States of America.
authors.forename: Ichiro
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Kawachi
authors.affiliation: Center for Preventive Medical Sciences, Chiba University, Chiba, Japan.|Department of Public Health, Chiba University Graduate School of Medicine, Chiba, Japan.|Department of Gerontology and Evaluation Study, Center for Gerontology and Social Science, National Center for Geriatrics and Gerontology, Obu city, Aichi, Japan.
authors.forename: Katsunori
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kondo
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Economics and Epidemiology Research, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Naoki
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Kondo
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health, Chiba University Graduate School of Medicine, Chiba, Japan.|Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, University College London, London, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Yuiko
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Nagamine
authors.affiliation: Department of Global Health Promotion, Tokyo Medical and Dental University, Tokyo, Japan.|Research Fellow of Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Yukako
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Tani
authors.affiliation: Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, United States of America.|Department of Human Sciences, School of Law and Letters, University of the Ryukyus, Okinawa, Japan.
authors.forename: Kokoro
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Shirai
authors.affiliation: Department of General Internal Medicine, Hiroshima University of Medical Science, Hiroshima, Japan.
authors.forename: Susumu
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Tazuma
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001786:Blood Glucose; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004644:Emotions; D005260:Female; D015577:Geriatric Assessment; D006442:Glycated Hemoglobin; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D016017:Odds Ratio; D062486:Public Health Surveillance; D060756:Social Networking; D058992:Social Participation; D012944:Social Support
chemical_list: D001786:Blood Glucose; D006442:Glycated Hemoglobin