RESUMO
Males with coronary heart disease (CHD) aged 35 to 60 years were studied. The patients were divided into three groups: 32 patients with angina of effort and at rest (test group I), 39 survivors of myocardial infarction (test group II) and 50 clinically healthy people (control group). The relationship was established between a certain behavioural complex of CHD patients and some exogenic risk factors. The study was aimed at elucidating the premorbid characteristics of the personality of CHD patients. Individuals with the variable type of orientation were predominant in both test groups. The data from Eisenk's questionnaire revealed the predominance of extraverts in group I and introverts in group II. It is suggested that the variable character may prove to be the premorbid, basic property of the personality determining the specific mechanism of psychologic adaptation and the entire complex of behavioural characteristics of CHD patients.