Return to work during the year following first myocardial infarction

Abstract

This study considers the importance of demographic and psychosocial variables in return to work following a first myocardial infarction. Those patients who returned to work within two months of their infarct, compared with those who had not returned, tended to be younger and of higher socio-economic status. They were also more likely to have an internal locus of control and to have attributed their MI to occupational stressors. Conversely, patients who had not resumed employment one year following their infarction, in comparison with those who had, were likely to be of lower socio-economic status and to have been more depressed immediately following their heart attack.