Gender Differences in Changes of Illness Perception among Patients with Myocardial Infarction

The aim of this study was to understand differences in changes of illness perception between male and female patients with MI. A total of 150 patients with MI completed the brief illness perception questionnaire (B-IPQ) at a few days after experience of MI. At three months after discharge, 136 patients were followed up via telephone or face-to-face. At three months after discharge, differences between genders were most significant in ‘personal control’ (p=.037) and ‘understanding’ (p=.004). Changes in ‘timeline’ and ‘emotional response’ over the same period time differed from genders. Implications of these findings would be to develop post-MI interventions focusing on these variables, in particular for female patients. In future studies, it is suggested to identify factors that could affect these variables by genders.