Women’s experiences after myocardial infarction: sense of coherence and quality of life

This invited commentary refers to ‘Sense of coherence and quality of life in the recovery of women and men with myocardial infarction: a 10-year follow-up study’, by D. Malm et al., https://doi.org/10.1093/eurjcn/zvaf028. Quality of life is a priority for people who have experienced a myocardial infarction (MI). The recent paper by Malm et al.1 reported that sense of coherence (i.e. intrapersonal resources for coping with stressors comprised of comprehensibility, meaningfulness, and manageability) predicts quality of life 10 years after MI. Earlier work with this cohort by the author group found that women reported a significantly lower sense of coherence prior to hospital discharge after MI than men.2 Given Malm et al.’s1 recent finding that higher sense of coherence is associated with greater wellbeing in all dimensions of quality of life, this gender difference is concerning and invites two important questions: (i) why do women report a lower sense of coherence shortly after MI? and (ii) what can be done to address this disparity and its potential consequences (e.g. diminished quality of life among women)?