ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION: There is a relationship between social support and health. However, there is no very much available research in the area of ischemic heart disease related to the influence of social support on the quality of life. OBJECTIVES: To study the social aspects of patients. To measure emotional and instrumental social support and quality of life, after a first acute myocardial infarction. PATIENTS AND METHODS: 155 patients were studied under two pieces of assessment: at admission's time and six months later. A protocol was selected with clinical, socio-economic, social support and quality of life variables. RESULTS: 90.9% could read and write, however 42.3% have any study or completed their primary studies. Moreover, 45.1% of patients were working, at six months only 14% of them had returned to their jobs. They were blue and white collar patients. Availability of instrumental and emotional social support was referred by 78.7% and 69.9% respectively of patient's. At the beginning, the mean quality of life was 108.1 +/- 19.3. Six months later was 101.1 +/- 19.1 SD. Statistics revealed that the availability of instrumental and emotional social support impacts favourably on human being's health. CONCLUSIONS: The quality of life is related to the patient's perceived social support. The perceived social support depends directly on the size of their network. Moreover, there is a relationship between quality of life and educational achievement, so that, the lower that patient's quality of life, the lower the educational achievement. After the first not complicated myocardial infarction the return to their jobs is really low.
