Causal attribution by patients, their spouses and the physicians in relation to patient outcome after a first myocardial infarction: subjective and objective outcome.

Ninety-eight men <60 years of age with a first myocardial infarction (MI), their spouses and treating physicians were interviewed at the patients' hospitalization. The aim was to determine the three groups' perception of the causes of the patients' MI, and the importance of those for patient outcome 6 months after the MI. Patients and spouses agreed in general and attributed the MI to similar causes, while the patients and physicians had a lower level of agreement. The patients tended towards the more 'social' and 'psychological' items, while the physicians relied on medical information. The causal attributions of each of the groups were more important than background variables when subjective and objective outcome measures were estimated.