Return to work after a myocardial infarction: evaluation of planned rehabilitation and of a predictive rating scale.

This paper reports the first recorded controlled trial of cardiac rehabilitation after myocardial infarction in men of working age, viewed as a team intervention effort to facilitate the patient's return to normal work. Our results show that this intervention is helpful in returning to jobs which they can handle successfully men who would otherwise be at risk of remaining unemployed. A previously developed rating scale for predicting return to work after myocardial infarction was used and reevaluated. Employment and occupational level at admission to hospital, work history, availability of the previous job, educational level, family and social stability, age at which regular cigarette smoking commenced, and level of anxiety and depression on a personality scale proved highly predictive.