Association between extraversion personality and abnormal glucose regulation in young Korean women

Depression and psychological distress are known to be associated with diabetes development as well as the disease progression including glycemic control and chronic complication, but relationship of personality with diabetes is controversial. We examined whether personality trait and the presence of abnormal glucose regulation (AGR; diabetes and pre-diabetes) are associated in young women. A total of 1,617 young women aged 19–39 years without previously diagnosed diabetes were participated voluntarily. Personality trait was assessed by self-reported questionnaire using the five-factor model (neuroticism, extraversion, openness to experience, agreeableness and conscientiousness) consisting of five-point scale ranging from ‘strongly disagreeable’ to ‘strongly agreeable.’ Glucose tolerance status was assessed by standard 75-g oral glucose tolerance test. One hundred and eleven women were newly diagnosed with AGR (6.9 %). Among five factors, only extraversion trait was significantly associated with AGR. Multiple linear regression analysis showed significant negative association between extraversion trait and 2-h post-load glucose after adjustment for age, BMI, systolic blood pressure, triglycerides, HDL cholesterol and family history of diabetes (β = −0.16, P = 0.026). Multiple logistic regression showed extraversion trait having a significant association with the presence of AGR after adjustment for the same covariates (OR 0.97, 95 % CI 0.95–0.99, P = 0.011). The frequency of AGR was significantly increased according to the decrease in extraversion score (P for trend with exact test = 0.047). In conclusion, extraversion may be an important personality trait having a beneficial effect on decreasing the risk of AGR.