Resilience in Patients with Ischemic Heart Disease

BACKGROUND: Resilience is a psychosocial factor associated with clinical outcomes in chronic diseases. The relationship between this protective factor and certain diseases, such heart diseases, is still under-explored. OBJECTIVE: The present study sought to investigate the frequency of resilience in individuals with ischemic heart disease. METHOD: This was a cross-sectional study with 133 patients of both genders, aged between 35 and 65 years, treated at Rio Grande do Sul Cardiology Institute - Cardiology University Foundation, with a diagnosis of ischemic heart disease during the study period. Sixty-seven patients had a history of acute myocardial infarction. The individuals were interviewed and evaluated by the Wagnild & Young resilience scale and a sociodemographic questionnaire. RESULTS: Eighty-one percent of patients were classified as resilient according to the scale. CONCLUSION: In the sample studied, resilience was identified in high proportion among patients with ischemic heart disease.