In industrialized nations, a low socioeconomic status represents an independent predictor of mortality in patients with acute myocardial infarction.

Background: It has been widely demonstrated that in the general population a low socioeconomic status (SES) represents a risk factor for coronary heart disease (CHD). Both the incidence of and the mortality due to CHD are significantly higher in subjects with a low SES. Conventional risk factors only partly account for the social gradient in CHD.