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Objective We investigated whether and how perceived social support is associated with depression and quality of life among patients with various cancer diagnoses. Methods Data were collected from 1930 cancer patients treated at the National Cancer Center and nine regional cancer centers across Korea. The Duke‐UNC functional social support scale was used to measure the perceived social support, and the PHQ‐9 and the EORTC QLQ‐C30 were used to measure the cancer patients' depression levels and quality of life, respectively. Results Subjects with low perceived social support reported significantly higher levels of depression, lower scores on all functional scales, higher scores on all three symptom scales, lower global health/quality of life scale scores, and higher scores on most single items than subjects with high perceived social support. There was no interaction between potential stressors and perceived social support, supporting the main effect model as the mechanism that the perceived social support reduce the adverse psychological outcomes. Conclusion Perceived social support was associated with mental health and quality of life in cancer patients, through direct effect rather than stress‐buffering effect. Interventions to enhance perceived social support might be helpful for improving mental health and QOL in cancer patients. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

PURPOSE Continuity of care is considered a core element of high-quality primary care, but its impact on mortality and health care costs is unclear. We aimed to determine the impact of continuity of care on mortality, costs, and health outcomes in patients with newly diagnosed cardiovascular risk factors. METHODSWe conducted a cohort study of a 3% nationwide random sample of Korean National Health Insurance enrollees. A total of 47,433 patients who had received new diagnoses of hypertension, diabetes, hypercholesterolemia, or their complications in 2003 or 2004 were included. We determined standard indices of continuity of care-most frequent provider continuity (MFPC), modified, modified continuity index (MMCI), and continuity of care index (COC)-and evaluated their association with study outcomes over 5 years of follow-up. Outcome measures included overall mortality, cardiovascular mortality, incident cardiovascular events, and health care costs. RESULTSThe multivariable-adjusted hazard ratios (HRs) for all-cause mortality, cardiovascular mortality, incident myocardial infarction, and incident ischemic stroke comparing participants with COC index below the median to those above the median were HR = 1.12 (95% CI, 1.04-1.21), 1.30 (1.13-1.50), 1.57 (1.28-1.95), and 1.44 (1.27-1.63), respectively. Similar findings were obtained for other indices of continuity of care. Lower continuity of care was also associated with increased inpatient and outpatient days and costs.CONCLUSIONS Lower indices of continuity of care in patients with newly diagnosed hypertension, diabetes, and hypercholesterolemia were associated with higher all-cause and cardiovascular mortality, cardiovascular events, and health care costs. Health care systems should be designed to support long-term trusting relationships between patients and physicians.