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INFLUENCE OF SOCIAL SUPPORT ON WOMEN'S CORONARY ATHEROSCLEROSIS PROGRESSION | |
| Contact: Hui-Xin Wang, PhD and Kristina Orth-Gomer, MD Phone: 4685/248-6011 or 468/728-6012 Email: huixin.wang@phs.ki.se or K.Orth-Gomer@phs.ki.se Embargoed until: March 5, 2004 |
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These are the findings of a study on influence of social support on progression of heart disease conducted by Hui-Xin Wang, Ph.D, research scientist and Kristina Orth-Gomer, MD, Professor at the Karolinska Institute. Results of the study are presented for the first time at the American Psychosomatic Society Annual Meeting, Orlando, FL, March 5th The study was designed to investigate whether there is an effect of social support in helping women with Coronary Heart Disease (CHD) to lessen the progression of atherosclerosis. We tried to test the hypothesis that women who lack social support was related to a greater progression of atherosclerosis than those with adequate social support. This investigation came from the Stockholm Female Coronary Risk study, a community-based follow-up study, that involved 102 women, aged 65 and younger, admitted for acute coronary syndrome in greater Stockholm, Sweden, who had their coronary angiography measured quantitatively (QCA) at baseline and 3 years later. QCA provides computer-assisted evaluation of repeated coronary angiography visualizing the change over time of the entire coronary tree. It is an objective measure of the extent and course of coronary artery disease and of changes in atherosclerosis. To measure social support, three types were examined: 1) emotional support, 2) social integration - tangible/practical, informational support, and 3) interpersonal relationships - belongingness, appraisal support, and tangible support. We divided these women patients in two groups according to each type of the social support and followed them for three years to assess the influence of social support on disease progression. We found that women who lacked emotional support, social integration or interpersonal relationships had two to three times greater progression of their coronary disease as compared with women who had adequate emotional support, social integration or interpersonal relationships. This effect remained virtually the same even after taking into account the effects of standard risk factors and prognostic markers of cardiac origin. We conclude that lack of social support might contribute to acceleration of the atherosclerotic processes in middle-aged women, independently of standard risk factors and of cardiac pathology. | |
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Psychosomatic Medicine is the official peer-reviewed journal of the American Psychosomatic Society, published bimonthly. For information about the journal, contact Vicki White, Managing Editor for Manuscript Production,
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