Freeborne N, et al. - Researchers examined postmenopausal women enrolled in the Women's Health Initiative Observational Study to see if there is a relationship between perceived social support and cardiovascular outcomes. At baseline, assessment of social support was done via nine questions measuring the following functional support components: emotional/informational, tangible, positive social interaction, and affectionate support. Observations revealed no correlation of higher perceived social support with incident coronary heart disease or cardiovascular disease (CVD) after controlling for potential confounding variables. However, they noted a slightly lower risk of all-cause mortality in correlation to perceived social support among women free of CVD at baseline.