Returning to work after myocardial infarction (MI) in a young active patient is influenced by several factors.

The aim of our work is to determine the predictive factors of return, non-return and late return to work after a myocardial infarction in a young subject.

This is a cross-sectional study conducted in the cardiology department of Charles Nicole Hospital (Tunisia) during the period between January 2019 and December 2021 on working patients under 65 years of age who had an acute coronary syndrome.

We included 210 patients with an average age of 52 years±7 years, 82.9% of whom returned to work after 1.3 months±one month. 159 people (68.4%) returned to the same jobs, 9 patients had their jobs adapted and 4 patients underwent vocational retraining. Predictive Factors of return to work according to our studies were: high (P=0.012) and medium (P=0.034) socio-economic level, university level (P=0.032), job satisfaction (P=0.004) and advice given by a cardiologist regarding return to work (<10⁻³). Predictive Factors of non-return to work were: low socio-economic level (P<10⁻³), previous coronary bypass surgery (P=0.022), heart failure (P=0.004), high left ventricular filling pressures (P=0.015), complicated MI (P=0.022). Job unsatisfaction was a predictive factor for non-return to work (P=0.003), as was a job with a heavy physical load (P=0.002), a primary level of education (P=0.016) and a history of hypertension (P=0.004). Patients who retained fatigability (P<10⁻³), dyspnea (P<10⁻³) or recurrent chest pain (P<10⁻³) had a higher probability of non-return to work. Late return to work was significantly associated with private practice (P=0.044), smoking (P=0.021) and indication for coronary bypass surgery (P=0.017).

Post-MI balance can only be achieved through collaboration between the cardiologist, a psychologist and the patient. Our study highlights the importance of returning to work after MI, and identifies the various factors that interfere with the return to work.