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Social network and social support predict improvement of physical working capacity in rehabilitation of patients with first myocardial infarction

Department of Community Health Sciences, Lund University, Malmö General Hospital, Sweden

Michael Freitag

Department of Medicine, Karlskrona Country Hospital, Sweden

Bertil s Hanson

Department of Community Health Sciences, Lund University, Malmö General Hospital, Sweden

Eva Hedin

Department of Medicine, Karlskrona Country Hospital, Sweden

Sven-Olof Isacsson

Department of Community Health Sciences, Lund University, Malmö General Hospital, Sweden

Håkan Odeberg

Department of Medicine, Karlskrona Country Hospital, Sweden

Sven-Eric Svensson

Department of Clinical Physiology, Karlskrona Country Hospital, Sweden

A cohort of 50 patients under 70 years of age who had suffered their first myocardial infarction (MI) entered an exercise-based rehabilitation programme. An extensive personal interview concerning psychosocial factors, including social network and social support, as well as an assessment of an array of clinical and laboratory variables was made before the patients were discharged from the hospital. A follow-up 6 months later of the 40 patients that completed the programme showed that material social support and social anchorage at baseline predicted improvement in physical working capacity, independently from age, gender and important clinical variables. The authors conclude that psychosocial factors could be predictors of equal importance as many of the standard risk factors and clinical assessments in the rehabilitation of a majority of post-MI patients. It is suggested that training programmes should provide opportunities for involvement of the patients' social network, in order to benefit from optimal social support during the rehabilitation process.

Key Words: Cardiac rehabilitation • exercise training • physical working capacity • prognostic factors • social network • social support

Scandinavian Journal of Public Health, Vol. 19, No. 4, 225-234 (1991)
DOI: 10.1177/140349489101900403


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