Social support may function as a resilience factor against the long-term cardiovascular risk associated with depression, a recent study found. Researchers assessed whether social support moderates the long-term risk for coronary heart disease (CHD) associated with this disorder. Data were drawn from the Americans’ Changing Lives study, a nationally representative longitudinal survey of adults in the US. Participants (n=1,636) completed initial assessments of functional social support, body mass index, recent history of major depression, CHD, hypertension, and diabetes. They were reassessed for CHD 13 years later. Researchers found:

• Social support was found to moderate the relationship between depression and the occurrence of CHD 13 years later.
• Specifically, among individuals with low social support, depression was prospectively associated with CHD.
• In contrast, depression was not prospectively associated with CHD among individuals with high social support.