A systematic review of social capital and chronic non-communicable diseases.

Nowadays, chronic non-communicable diseases have become a significant social problem of healthcare which threatens human health along with their rapid progress of morbidity and mortality. How to develop potential, intangible resources to compensate for insufficient physical resources is urgent. By analyzing literature reporting the association between social capital and chronic non-communicable diseases systematically, evidence was found for a positive association between social capital and chronic non-communicable disease prevention and control. The social capital theory may provide a new idea to solve the problem.