Do feelings of exhaustion predict future fatal or non-fatal myocardial infarction in middle-aged men free of coronary heart disease?
Feelings of exhaustion may serve as an independent precursor and predictor of future myocardial infarction in middle-aged men.
To test the hypothesis that feelings of exhaustion are predictive of future coronary heart disease, a prospective study was done among 3877 males, aged 39-65. Feelings of exhaustion were assessed by the Maastricht Questionnaire. Among those who were free of coronary heart disease at screening, 59 subjects experienced a fatal or non-fatal myocardial infarction during the 4.2 year follow-up period. A multiple logistic regression analysis revealed that feelings of exhaustion were predictive of future myocardial infarction when controlling simultaneously for blood pressure, smoking, cholesterol, age and the use of antihypertensive drugs.
Appels et al. (Fri,) studied this question.