The role of social support in the pathogenesis of coronary heart disease. A literature review.

A possible effect of social support on the pathogenesis of coronary heart disease (CHD) would have practical implications, especially from a general practitioner's point of view. This paper reviews studies on the relationship between social support and CHD/CHD risk factors. Several prospective studies show a negative correlation between the level of social support and CHD mortality/CHD morbidity. These associations may be due to a protective effect of social support. This conclusion is supported by several investigations indicating that social support is capable of moderating potentially harmful negative emotions and the potentially harmful cardiovascular response to psychological challenge. However, a lack of control with personality factors in most of the studies makes this conclusion uncertain.