Single-living is associated with increased risk of long-term mortality among employed patients with acute myocardial infarction.
OBJECTIVE
There is conflicting evidence about the impact of social support on adverse outcome after acute myocardial infarction (MI). We examined the relation between single-living and long-term all-cause mortality after MI.


METHODS
A prospective cohort study of 242 employed patients with MI followed up to 16 years after MI.


RESULTS
A total of 106 (43.8%) patients died during the follow-up. Single-living nearly doubled the risk of death; after adjusting for potential confounding factors, single-living was an independent predictor of death, with a hazard ratio of 2.55 (95% confidence interval: 1.52-4.30). Other predictors of death were diabetes mellitus, atrial fibrillation, age, and ejection fraction less than 35%.


CONCLUSIONS
Single-living is a prognostic determinant of long-term all-cause mortality after MI.
Nielsen
Finn Erland
FE
Department of Cardiology S, Herlev University Hospital, Denmark.
Mard
Shan
S