As well as promoting psychological wellbeing, CR also provides patients with a social support resource network. The adequacy of social support has been investigated in relation the prognosis of patients with CHD (22) when it was noted that inadequate tangible support was a significant predictor of both morbidity and mortality. Population based studies have consistently identified a link between social support and CHD morbidity and mortality in men, while disease severity and proliferation have been shown to be related to a lack of support in women (23). Epidemiological studies have also consistently found a link between depression, social isolation and predicted morbidity and mortality in CAD patients (24). It has been argued that CR provides the social context through which coronary prevention interventions are delivered (25) and that this extra social support may have an important part to play in the patients recovery from, and adaptation to, chronic illness (26).