This study examines the interaction between physiological, psychological, and sociological variables as factors in the short term prognosis of death. The basic physiological processes of disease are inexorable, but psychosocial variables may influence short term prognosis. In this anterospective study, 12 male subjects with a 50% short term mortality risk due to chronic lung disease were evaluated and followed for 18 months. Neither initial basic physiologic status nor basic psychological measures were predictive. However measures of functional social abilities was predictive, as the presence of an intact positive network of social relations. In the short run, the importance of having something or someone to live for is demonstrated.
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