Group B patients and the random subset of Group A were then followed by telephone interview at one year and then annually. In addition, these patients had brief bimonthly telephone contacts to assess interval changes in social support as well as levels of environmental stress and mood states including depression and anger. All patients were followed for up to three years. Outcome events, including death and myocardial infarction, were ascertained at each point in follow-up. Multivariable analyses using the spline proportional hazards regression model tested the prognostic importance of the social support and psychological measures on outcome and evaluated the role of biological and behavioral variables as mediators, controlling for baseline disease severity.