| Abstract: | Prospective five-year follow-up of patients with ischemic heart disease who had suffered from macrofocal myocardial infarction between the age of 29 and 54 and who had been previously examined by a psychologist was conducted. Within the five-year period, myocardial infarction recurred in 29 patients (it was fatal in 10), sudden death occurred in 13 patients. Total mortality was 25.5%. The incidence of recurrent myocardial infarction, the frequency of sudden death, and the total mortality of ischemic heart disease were 3, 2.3 and 3 times higher, respectively, in patients classed according to the personality features as type I which is close to type A (63 persons) than in patients (27 persons) possessing premorbidly personality features close to type B (type II). The importance of premorbid personality features in the remote prognosis in myocardial infarction is suggested. |
