Predictability of the psychic outcome for two cardiac rehabilitation programmes was investigated in 119 myocardial infarction patients. They were randomly assigned to either a five-week daily exercise training or to an identical training in combination with six sessions of relaxation therapy, individually. The psychic outcome was constructed as a composite measure of change on six psychological questionnaires. The aim was to determine the predictive qualities of base-line: (1) clinical data; (2) exercise testing; (3) psychosocial information derived from interview; and (4) validated psychological questionnaires and whether the kind of rehabilitation programme has any influence on the predictive qualities of the variables. The psychic outcome turned out to be highly predictable (multiple correlation of 0.72). Predictors of relatively high importance were age, work-status and job-level, followed by mild heart failure, diastolic blood pressure and heart rate, all of them dependent upon the kind of treatment. It implies that the type of rehabilitation programme modified the effect of the determinants of psychic outcome. This research strategy is promising and deserves to be stimulated in order to build rehabilitation programmes tailored to the needs and abilities of the individual patient.
With permission from Excerpta Medica Inc.

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