Associations between emotional support and cardiovascular risk factors and subclinical atherosclerosis in middle-age.

Objective: To test the hypothesis of low emotional support being associated with lifestyle and biomedical cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors, estimated risk of CVD morbidity and mortality, and subclinical atherosclerosis in middle-aged healthy adults.

Methods And Measures: Cross-sectional data were obtained from participants aged 40-60 years who had one or more conventional CVD risk factor. They underwent assessment based on questionnaires, clinical examination, blood sampling, and carotid ultrasound of plaque formation and carotid intima-media wall thickness (cIMT).