Having best friends cuts heart disease risk

Do you have this many besties? It could save your life. See the surprise factors that can boost your cardiovascular health.

Three has been officially declared the magic number of close friends that women should have to reduce their risk of deadly heart and blood vessel disease.

Men instead benefit from close family ties.

Artificial intelligence analysed data from thousands of Australians 70 or older for social factors that could predict cardiovascular disease – our biggest killer – and uncovered stark gender differences in the process.

The Monash University study could see standard doctor questions about alcohol consumption, weight and blood pressure, followed by ones about time with family and friends – and “prescriptions” for social activities.

Having three close friends can help reduce women’s risk of deadly heart and blood vessel disease.

Three was the magic number of best friends for women, and the study found those with three or more friends who they can “comfortably discuss private matters with” cut their CVD risk by almost 30 per cent.

But men relied on family over friendship, dropping their CVD risk by 30 per cent if they had between three and eight relatives they could chat to about private matters. Monash University researcher Rosanne Freak-Poli said there was no statistically significant benefit for the reverse, and women’s risk was not lowered by close family relationships nor men’s by friendships.

“I wonder if that is something to do with our social context, where men have been more reliant on the women in their lives to provide this socialising, and then women, it’s actually about their network,” Dr Freak-Poli said.

The study, published in BMJ Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health, also found being married or partnered cut women’s risk by 17 per cent and men by 12 per cent.

Women who lived with others – whether that was a romantic partner or not – had a 26 per cent lower CVD risk while men who played games like chess or cards cut theirs by 18 per cent.

First author PhD student Achamyeleh Teshale said it could be because men socialised via games, whereas women may prefer to surround “themselves with others regardless of what the activities are”.

“The evidence for the benefits of close friends and relatives on cardiovascular health is apparent,” he said.

Dr Freak-Poli said she wanted social factors to play a greater role in assessing patients, citing heart health checks – where doctors used mostly physical health measures to calculate a patient’s risk of a heart attack or stroke in the next five years – as an example.

She said Britain was already pouring significant funds into “social prescribing” and examples included connecting people with a walking group or local library activity.

“We advise that older adults seek to maintain connections with their loved ones, as well as getting out to join new activities or new groups to find your next best friend,” she said.

Concrete guidelines for nutrition, exercise and alcohol have long existed, but Dr Freak-Poli said – despite knowledge that social wellbeing affected physical health – there’d been little research into specific measures until now.

“If we’re going to recommend something, what is the guideline?” Mr Teshale said the cardiac benefits could be caused “by the positive impact of sharing feelings … in fostering a sense of wellbeing and connectedness”.