Archives of Critical Care Medicine

Background: Stress is one of the most important factors that may be accompanied with increased possible prevalence of cardio[1]vascular diseases including myocardial infarction.

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to investigate the correlation between perceived stress intensity and some cardiovascular risk factors in myocardial infarctions’ patients.

Methods: The design of the study was cross sectional. Overall, 2400 patients with myocardial infarction were chosen through mul[1]tistage random sampling. A three-part questionnaire including demographic characteristics, perceived stress, and a checklist to record laboratorial test and electrocardiography changes were used for data collection.

Results: The results of the present study showed that 45% of the patients had moderate and 55% had severe stress. Moreover, find[1]ings of the research indicated that there were significant differences between the mean stress level in various categories of the vari[1]able including gender, education, history of hypertension, blood pressure, diabetes, cigarette smoking, exercising, job, and family history of myocardial diseases.

Conclusions: Regarding the high level of perceived stress in patients with myocardial infarction, it is necessary to devise a program and determine stressor factors to modify and decrease them.