Author

Design

Outcomes

Sample

Results

Berkman et al., (1992)

Cohort study in New Haven, CT

Total mortality

194 patients hospitalized for acute myocardial infarction

Lack of emotional support was significantly associated with mortality (OR = 2.9, 95% CI 1.2, 6.9).

Jenkinson et al., (1993)

Cohort study in England

Total mortality

1,376 patients hospitalized for acute myocardial infarction

Socially isolated patients were 49% more likely to die after an infarction than patients who were not socially isolated.

Friedmann & Thomas, (1995)

Follow-up study of randomized controlled trial participants

Total mortality

368 myocardial infarction patients

High social support tended to predict survival independently of demographic and other psychosocial variables (p<0.068).

Greenwood et al., (1995)

Cohort study in England

Total mortality

1,701 patients hospitalized for acute myocardial infarction

Lack of social contacts or being unmarried were not significantly associated with survival.

Farmer et al., (1996)

Cohort study in Corpus Christi, TX

Total mortality

596 patients with myocardial infarction

Survival following myocardial infarction was greater for those with high or medium social support than for those with low social support.  The RR of mortality was 1.89 (95% CI 1.20, 2.97) for those with low social support.

Hammer et al., (1998)

Population-based case-control study in five Swedish counties

Incident myocardial infarction

Men and women in five counties in Sweden who were at risk of myocardial infarction

Younger men (30-54 years of age) in occupations with both high job strain and low social support at work had a RR of 1.79 (95% CI 1.22, 2.65) compared with subjects in low strain and high social support jobs.

Pederson et al., (2004)

Follow-up study of patients 4-6 weeks post- myocardial infarction and at 9 months

Recurrent cardiac events

112 myocardial infarction patients treated at two hospitals in Denmark

Lower social support at baseline was associated with an increased risk of recurrent cardiac events at follow-up (OR = 0.90, 95% CI 0.84, 0.97).

Andre-Petersson et al., (2006)

Cohort study of men in Malmo, Sweden

Incident myocardial infarction and total mortality

Men born in Malmo, Sweden who were at-risk of myocardial infarction

Low levels of social support was associated with an increased risk of incident myocardial infarction (HR = 2.40, 95% CI 1.36, 4.25, p = 0.003) and premature death (HR = 1.99, 95% CI 1.32, 3.00, p = 0.001).

Schmaltz et al., (2007)

Study of all patients discharged with a primary diagnosis of acute myocardial infarction from three medical centers in Calgary, Alberta, Canada

Mortality

Patients with acute myocardial infarction

Living alone was independently associated with mortality (adjusted HR = 1.6, 95% CI 1.0, 2.5), but interacted with patient sex.  Men living alone had the highest mortality risk (HR = 2.0, 95% CI 1.1, 3.7), followed by women living alone, men living with others, and women living with others.

Chaix et al., (2006)

Cohort study of men in Malmo, Sweden

Acute myocardial infarction and death due to chronic IHD

498 men at risk of acute myocardial infarction or death due to IHD

Low neighborhood-based social support was associated with increased risk of acute myocardial infarction and IHD mortality.  The hazard ratios for IHD death associated with neighborhood social support were 2.50 (95% CI 1.06, 5.91) in the lower tertile and 1.66 (95% CI 0.70, 3.93) in the middle tertile compared with the upper tertile.  The hazard ratios for incident myocardial infarction associated with neighborhood social support were 1.87 (95% CI 1.02, 3.43) in the lower tertile and 1.60 (95% CI 0.89, 2.86) in the middle tertile compared with the upper tertile.

Andre-Petersson et al., (2007)

Cohort study in Malmo, Sweden

Incident myocardial infarction

7,770 men and women at risk of myocardial infarction

Among women, low levels of social support at work was associated with an increased risk of myocardial infarction.  No association was observed among men.

Lett et al., (2007)

Prospective study of randomized controlled trial participants

Total mortality and non-fatal reinfarction

1,481 acute myocardial infarction patients

Higher levels of perceived social support were associated with improved outcome for patients without elevated depression but not for patients with high levels of depression.  The relation between perceived social support and mortality or nonfatal infarction did not reach statistical significance.

Nielsen & Mard, (2010)

Cohort study in Denmark

Total mortality

242 patients with acute myocardial infarction

Single living was an independent predictor of death (HR = 2.55, 95% CI 1.52, 4.30).

Bucholz et al., (2011)

Registry-based cohort study at 19 U.S. medical centers

Acute myocardial infarction and 4-year mortality

Patients hospitalized for acute myocardial infarction

Patients who lived alone had a comparable risk of mortality (HR = 0.99, 95% CI 0.76, 1.28) as patients who lived with others.

Kitamura et al., (2013)

Cohort study in Osaka region of Japan

Major adverse cardiovascular events and total mortality

5,845 patients with acute myocardial infarction

Living alone was associated with a higher risk of composite endpoint consisting of major adverse cardiovascular events and total deaths (HR = 1.32, 95% CI 1.11, 1.58).

Gafarov et al., (2013)

Cohort study

Incident myocardial infarction

870 women in Novosibirsk, Russia

The rate of myocardial infarction was higher in married women with fewer close contacts and smaller social  networks.

Quinones et al., (2014)

Registry-based cohort study in Augsburg, Germany

Total mortality

3,766 patients with incident myocardial infarction

Overall, marital status showed a statistically non-significant inverse association (HR = 0.76, 95% CI 0.47, 1.22).  Stratified analyses revealed strong protective effects only among men and women aged < 60 years who were diagnosed with hyperlipidemia.

Kilpi et al., (2015)

Population-based cohort study in Finland

Myocardial infarction incidence and mortality

302,885 persons at risk of myocardial infarction

Men who were married had a lower risk of myocardial infarction as compared with those who were unmarried, even after adjusting for socioeconomic factors.  Among women, the associations of living arrangements with myocardial infarction were explained by socioeconomic factors.  Living arrangements were strong predictors of survival after myocardial infarction.

Weiss-Faratci et al., (2016)

Cohort study in Israel

Total mortality at two time points

Patients with incident myocardial infarction

Higher perceived social support was associated with lower mortality at both time points (HR = 0.85, 95% CI 0.75, 0.96; HR = 0.74, 95% CI 0.66, 0.83, respectively).

Hakulinen et al., (2018)

Cohort study in the United Kingdom

Incident acute myocardial infarction and total mortality

479,054 persons at risk of myocardial infarction

Social isolation was associated with higher risk of acute myocardial infarction (HR = 1.43, 95% CI 1.3-1.55).