Long-term metabolic and cardiovascular health benefits from romantic partner touch in older adults

Interpersonal touch is increasingly recognised as a health-relevant form of social support, associated with improved well-being and stress regulation, with emerging evidence suggesting longer-term physiological associations. Most research on touch has focused on cross-sectional associations of single health markers in young adults, leaving gaps in understanding the association of interpersonal touch with multisystem health over time, especially in groups at risk of low exposure. Chronic stress can have cumulative multiphysiological effects, for example, allostatic load. This study investigates associations between touch frequency with romantic partners and other close adults and components of allostatic load derived from factor analysis, representing three domains: metabolic (C-reactive protein, glycosylated haemoglobin, body mass index, and waist circumference), cardiovascular (systolic blood pressure and diastolic blood pressure), and neuroendocrine (dehydroepiandrosterone and pulse) health measured at two time points five years apart in older adults. Data were drawn from the National Social Life, Health, and Aging Project (n = 787; mean age 73.34y). Cross-lagged path models assessed the relationships between touch frequency and health outcomes, while adjusting for relevant covariates. Frequent touch with romantic partners was associated with more favourable metabolic (β = -0.08, p = .006) and cardiovascular (β = -0.14, p = .005) health profiles five years later. However, touch frequency with other close adults was not associated with improvements in these health domains. These findings highlight a unique and sustained association between frequent romantic partner touch and metabolic and cardiovascular health, suggesting that regular touch may be linked to lower chronic stress-related physiological burden over time.