How gender-specific are predictors of post-MI HRQoL? A longitudinal study

Abstract

Purpose Extant research shows that health-related quality of life (HRQoL) differs between female and male survivors of myocardial infraction (MI), but the reasons for this are not fully understood. We aimed to examine gender differences in predictors of HRQoL in survivors during the first year after MI.Methods At timepoints 1 and 2 the sample comprised 222 MI survivors (59 women and 163 men; M age 53.84 years, SD = 6.71; range 24-65) referred for in-patient cardiac rehabilitation. This number dropped to 140 participants (42 women and 98 men) at the third timepoint, approx. one year after MI. We examined gender differences in various predictors of physical and mental HRQoL: demographic factors (age; gender identity; marital status; education), disease-related factors (pre- and post-MI), personality and coping with stress.Results Stepwise regressions were performed to investigate how the relationships between the four groups of predictors and HRQoL varied with gender. Initially both physical and mental HRQoL were lower in women than men, but the differences disappeared at timepoint 3. We captured gender differences in factors shaping HRQoL at all timepoints. Substantially fewer factors predicted physical HRQoL in women than in men. The role of predictors also changed over time.Conclusions The psychosocial resources that influence HRQoL differ substantially between women and men; however trait anxiety predicted HRQoL in both genders. Further studies with a different or broader range of predictors are needed.