Middle-aged people who have satisfactory interpersonal relationships with partners, friends and colleaguesface a lower risk of developing multiple chronic health problems in older age, which is especially true for women, according to a new Australian scientific study.

The less satisfying relationships one has in general in middle age, the greater the risk of suffering from various chronic conditions during life. third Age. The study comes to add to those that show that there is a relationship between a person’s social networks and their physical and mental health.

Researchers from the University of Queensland’s School of Public Health at Brisbane, led by Professors Xiaolin Xu and Gita Misra, who published in the journal General Psychiatry, analyzed data on nearly 7,700 people aged 45-50 at the start of the study (in 1996), who were then followed up every three years. for the next 20 years. During this period 58% accumulated multiple chronic diseases. This was proportionately more the case for people with lower education, lower income, overweight, physical inactivity and smokers.

It was found that the greater the degree of satisfaction with interpersonal relationships (assessed through questionnaires), the lower the risk of chronic diseases. Compared to those with the highest level of mental satisfaction, those with the lowest level were more than twice as likely to suffer from multiple health problems.

Read the scientific publication here