[Rehabilitation and the socio-occupational reintegration of workers who have had a myocardial infarct: a pilot study]

To evaluate in a pilot study some psychosocial impacts of a multidisciplinary rehabilitation program on work reintegration of postmyocardial infarction (MI) patients.

Two groups of 19 workers among public and governmental enterprises of the greater Quebec city area admitted to hospital for uncomplicated MI where recruited for the study. One group received multidisciplinary cardiac rehabilitation intervention and a structured return to work program. The second group received the usual care post-MI (no organized rehabilitation program). Over a period of 15 months, the following variables were measured patients' perception of their loss of autonomy, and loss of capacity to manage their emotions, physical work capacity and their capacity to meet work requirements. The impact of the intervention on convalescence time and patients' stability at work were also evaluated.

The rehabilitation group showed a better development than the usual care group of capacity to manage emotions (P=0.004) and of capacity to return to work (P=0.006). Furthermore, the patients in the intervention group reintegrated their work environment following a convalescence of 84.32+/-35.39 days compared with 151.39 +/-75.53 days for the usual care patients (P=0.0007).

A multidisciplinary rehabilitation program and a structured return to work program are beneficial for sociovocational reintegration of post-MI patients.