Satisfying relationships in mid-life can lower risk of ill health

By Stephen Beech via SWNS

Satisfying relationships in mid-life with partners, friends and work colleagues lowers the risk of ill health in old age - at least for women, according to new research.

The less satisfying those relationships are in middle age, the greater the risk of developing multiple long-term problems such as diabetes; high blood pressure and heart disease, suggests the study.

The findings are only partially explained by influential factors such as income, education, and lifestyle, according to the research published in the journal General Psychiatry.

Mounting evidence suggests a link between strong social networks and well-being in older age.

But it’s not known if the connections might lower the risk of multiple long-term conditions, which many older women, in particular, face.

To assess to what extent a women’s level of satisfaction with their relationships might influence their future health, researchers looked at more than 13,000 Australian women who were aged 45 to 50 in 1996.

Their health and well-being were tracked every three years up to 2016.

They were asked to rank their levels of satisfaction with each of five categories of relationships on a four-point scale, with each response scored up to a maximum of three points.

The participants were also asked to indicate if they developed diabetes; high blood pressure; heart disease; stroke; chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD); asthma; osteoporosis; arthritis; cancer; depression; and anxiety.

Accumulating two or more of the health issues from a starting point of none, or additional conditions from just one, or from two or more, was defined as having multiple conditions.

The final analysis included 7,694 women, 58 percent of whom accumulated multiple long-term conditions over 20 years of monitoring

Those who did so, were more likely to have lower educational attainment, find it difficult to live off their income, be overweight or obese, physically inactive, smokers and have had a surgically induced menopause.

Study co-author Dr. Xiaolin Xu, of The University of Queensland in Australia, said: "Overall, relationship satisfaction was associated with the accumulation of multiple long-term conditions: the greater the levels of satisfaction, the lower were the risks.

"Compared with women reporting the highest level of satisfaction, those who reported the lowest were more than twice as likely to accumulate multiple long-term conditions after fully adjusting for potentially influential factors."

The researchers said the strength of the association was comparable with that of well-established risk factors - such as being overweight or obese, physical inactivity, smoking and alcohol intake.

They said that when all five types of relationships - partner, family, friends, work colleagues, and other social connections - were included in the analysis, the association weakened, but still remained "significant" for all except friendships.

And similar results were seen when individual conditions were analyzed separately.

However, well-established risk factors - such as socio-economic position, health behaviors, and menopausal status - together explained less than 20 percent of the observed association.

The team said further research is needed to look at other specific effects of relationships on the accumulation of multiple long-term conditions - such as intimacy, quantity, and emotional and practical support.

But co-author Professor Gita Mishra, of The University of Queensland's School of Public Health, said: “Our findings have significant implications for chronic disease management and intervention.

"First, at the individual level, 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.

“Second, at the community level, interventions focusing on social relationship satisfaction or quality may be particularly efficient in preventing the progression of chronic conditions.

“Third, at the country and global levels, social connections - such as social relationship satisfaction - should be considered a public health priority in chronic disease prevention and intervention.”