Effects of mood states, smoking and urinary catecholamine excretion on hemoglobin A1c in male Japanese workers.

To know the association between psychological strain and glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c) and to examine roles of smoking and catecholamine excretion as a possible mediator in the association, we measured mood states (Profile of Mood States, POMS), urinary catecholamines (adrenalin, noradrenaline and dopamine) from urine sample in early morning, HbA1c and fasting plasma glucose (FPG) of 63 male employees on a rest day. After excluding 12 subjects who had diabetes or impaired glucose tolerance or had missing response to the questionnaire, data from 51 subjects were analyzed. The POMS anger-hostility score significantly and positively correlated with HbA1c (p < 0.05), while other scale scores did not (p > 0.05). Number of cigarettes smoked per day significantly and positively correlated with HbA1c (p < 0.05). Urinary excretion rate of any catecholamine did not significantly correlate with HbA1c (p > 0.05). Multiple linear regression analysis indicated that the anger-hostility score significantly correlated with HbA1c after controlling for number of cigarettes per day (p < 0.05). It is suggested that, among mood states, anger-hostility is associated with increased HbA1c. However, our study failed to find a mediating role of urinary catecholamines or smoking on the association between the mood and HbA1c.