Satisfying human connections in mid-life may help protect women from chronic health conditions in older age, a Queensland-led study has found.
University of Queensland researchers tracked more than 7,600 Australian women aged between 45 and 50 for two decades as part of the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women's Health.
Every three years, the women filled out a questionnaire, rating their levels of satisfaction with a range of relationships, including partners, family, friends, work colleagues and other social connections.
Data was also collected on whether they had been diagnosed with two or more of 11 chronic health conditions, including high blood pressure, heart disease, stroke, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, asthma, arthritis, cancer, depression, anxiety, osteoporosis, and diabetes.
The researchers found 58.3 per cent of the women had developed more than one chronic disease during the 20 years of monitoring, from 1996 to 2016.
Those with the lowest relationship satisfaction scores had the highest odds of having multiple chronic diseases.
The strength of the association was comparable with well-established chronic disease risk factors, such as obesity, physical inactivity, smoking and alcohol intake, the researchers wrote.
Project leader of the research Gita Mishra, based at the University of Queensland's School of Public Health, said the study was not a green light for people with strong relationships to start eating badly or to stop exercising.
Professor Mishra said despite the clear link between human connections in middle-age and disease risk later in life, the researchers were unable to conclude that bad relationships caused health problems by age 70.
She said more research was needed to replicate the results of the study and then to better understand how satisfying relationships may be lowering the risk of chronic disease.
Until then, the reason for the link is open to speculation.
"Does having a good relationship … release endorphins and that lowers the risk of chronic disease? We don't know," she said.
"A partner can encourage you to have your health checks more often. There's been studies done that say that people who are lonely, they are less likely to engage with their doctors.
"If you're satisfied with your relationship with your friends, your partner, you tend to be more likely to take preventive health action.
"You do exercise together or have healthy foods together. It's company.
"I think it does improve your quality of life."
Given the study's findings, the researchers said social connections should be considered a public health priority in chronic disease prevention and intervention.
"These implications may help counsel women regarding the benefits of starting or maintaining high quality and diverse social relationships throughout middle to early old age," they wrote.
"For example, asking patients about the subjective ratings of their social relationships could be a priority in clinical practice."
The study findings are published today in the journal General Psychiatry.
