[A comparative study of patients following myocardial infarction assessed by the freiburger personality inventory (author's transl)].

The relationship between coronary disease and psychological factors is generally accepted. Numerous psychiatric studies have shown that there are typical basic personality features which predispose to heart disease. A personality inventory - the Freiburger Persönlichkeitsinventar (FPI) - was applied to a group of patients attending the Cardiology Clinic of the University of Vienna for a follow-up control examination after a heart attack. The results were compared with those of a control group (taken from the control population of the FPI). With respect to one personality dimension of the FPI, the so-called,,Nervositätsskala" (nervousness scale), significant differences were observed between the two groups. This scale includes so-called ,,psychosomatic" distrubances and disorders. According to these results,patients with coronary disease were more likely to experience such ,,psychosomatic distrubances" (as far as could be measured by this dimension of the FPI) than members of the control group. A comparison of patients graded according to the physical stamina level showed that those with a greatly-reduced work capacity as a consequence of myocardial infarction had a significantly higher score than patients whose work capacity was impaired to a lesser extent. This study introduces a new aspect in the relationship between coronary disease and personality dimensions.