Author(s)

Anna Schmidt, Elke Driller, Melanie Neumann, Julia Jung, Andrea Staratschek-Jox, Christian Schneider, Jürgen Wolf, Holger Pfaff

Department III for Internal Medicine, University Hospital of Cologne, Germany.
First Department of Internal Medicine, Molecular Tumour Biology and Tumour Immunology & Centre for Integrated Oncology (CIO), University Hospital of Cologne, Germany.
Gerhard Kienle Institute for Medical Theory, Integrative and Anthroposophic Medicine; Integrated Curriculum for Anthroposophic Medicine (ICURAM), Medical Department of the Private University of Witten/Herdecke, Germany.
Institute for Medical Sociology, Health Services Research and Rehabilitation Science (IMVR), Faculty of Human Science and Fac- ulty of Medicine, University of Cologne, Germany.
LIMES (Life and Medical Sciences Bonn), Genomics and Immunoregulation, University of Bonn, Germany.

Background: Psychosocial factors attract interest in investigating the occurrence of cardiovascular disease. Design This study aimed to examine the impact of critical life events on the development of myocardial infarction in smokers and ex-smokers. We hypothesized that critical life events increase the risk of the disease. Methods: Data were taken from the Cologne Smoking Study (CoSmoS), a retrospective multicentre case-control study that examines which psychosocial factors may lead to a higher risk for smokers and ex-smokers of suffering from a myocardial infarction. Our sample consisted of n = 278 myocardial infarction participants and control participants. Both groups had a history of smoking. Logistic regression was used in the analysis. Results: The study results of the smoking and ex-smoking participants showed that sociodemographic data like gender and age have an effect on the development of myocardial infarction. Physical activity seems to offer protection aganist myocardial infarction. Final, the unexpected result that the experience of at least one critical life event seems to have a positive effect on health and so lowers the risk of myocardial infarction. Conclusions: Socio-demographic data and physical activity have an effect on the development of myocardial infarction. Participants with experience of critical life events appear to be strengthened after the events and possess adequate resources to protect their health.

Life Events; Physical Activity; Myocardial Infarction; Smokers

Schmidt, A. , Driller, E. , Neumann, M. , Jung, J. , Staratschek-Jox, A. , Schneider, C. , Wolf, J. and Pfaff, H. (2012) The association between critical life events, sociodemographic data and physical activity in the development of myocardial infarction in smokers and ex-smokers. Open Journal of Preventive Medicine, 2, 403-409. doi: 10.4236/ojpm.2012.23058.