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Harry B. Burke, MD, PhD
Medical College of Wisconsin Milwaukee

JAMA. 1992;268(2):195.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text PDF and any section headings.

To the Editor.

—You recently published two informative studies on social isolation and adverse cardiac events.^1,2 I wonder why Case et al¹ did not find living alone to be a risk factor for cardiac death, while Williams et al² did find it to be a risk factor for cardiac death. It is misleading for Case et al to continue to discuss living alone as a risk factor in cardiac death when living alone was not significant in their data (P=.10), and Williams et al never define "close confidant" or tell us how they quantified their social support variable. These points aside, it would have been interesting if the editors of THE JOURNAL had suggested that the authors combine their two studies and report their results together. Finally, the idea of Williams et al of social support is very similar to the concept of depression. Might it . . . [Full Text PDF of this Article]

Footnotes
Edited by Drummond Rennie, MD, Deputy Editor (West), and Bruce B. Dan, MD, Senior Editor.

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