Social isolation and cardiovascular disease: an atherosclerotic pathway?

Abstract

This paper outlines two pathways through which social support can influence the prevention or progression of cardiovascular disease: health behaviors and neuroendocrine mechanisms. Its primary focus is on neuroendocrine pathways, reviewing data which suggest that lack of social support is etiologically related to coronary artery lesion development through two mechanisms: sympathetic-adrenomedullary influences on platelet function, heart rate and blood pressure in the initial endothelial injury; and pituitary-adrenal cortical factors involved in smooth muscle cell proliferation during progression of the lesion after injury has taken place. It hypothesizes that the buffering effect of social support on the cardiovascular system is mediated primarily through mechanisms associated with the release of oxytocin.