Mass Media Campaigns’ Influence on Prehospital Behavior for Acute Coronary Syndromes: An Evaluation of the Australian Heart Foundation's Warning Signs Campaign
Why the study?
Does awareness of a mass media campaign reduce prehospital delay in patients with acute coronary syndromes?
Population
199 consecutive acute coronary syndrome patients aged 35 to 75 years, competent to provide consent, and…
Comparison
Awareness of the Australian Heart Foundation's… vs No awareness of the campaign
Design
Cross-sectional
Authors
Discussion
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Member takes
Implication
Campaign awareness linked to shorter ACS delays; observational data leaves open causal effects and need for prospective trials.
Key Points
- To evaluate patient awareness of a national mass media warning signs campaign and assess its influence on symptom knowledge, decision times, and hospital arrival times in acute coronary syndrome patients.
- Conducted semistructured interviews with 199 consecutive English-speaking acute coronary syndrome patients aged 35 to 75 years admitted to an Australian hospital.
- Used multivariable logistic regression to evaluate the relationship between campaign awareness and both patient decision delay (≤1 hour) and prehospital hospital arrival delay (≤2 hours).
- Overall, 64% of patients (127/199) reported campaign awareness, with 68% reporting improved symptom knowledge and 43% stating it influenced their actions.
- Campaign awareness was significantly associated with a shorter patient decision delay of ≤1 hour (adjusted odds ratio [AOR]=2.25, 95% CI: 1.03 to 4.91, P=0.04).
- Campaign awareness was also significantly associated with presentation to the hospital within ≤2 hours (AOR=3.11, 95% CI: 1.36 to 7.08, P=0.007).
Structured PICO
Does awareness of a mass media campaign reduce prehospital delay in patients with acute coronary syndromes?
P
Population
199 consecutive acute coronary syndrome (ACS) patients aged 35 to 75 years, competent to provide consent, and English speaking, admitted to an Australian hospital. Median age 62 years, 68% male.
I
Intervention
Awareness of the Australian Heart Foundation's Warning Signs mass media campaign
C
Comparator
No awareness of the campaign
O
Outcome
1-hour delay in deciding to seek medical attention (patient delay) and a 2-hour delay in presenting to hospital (prehospital delay)patient reported
Awareness of a mass media warning signs campaign is associated with significantly shorter prehospital decision-making and faster presentation to the hospital for patients with acute coronary syndromes.
Cite This Study
Bray et al. (2015) studied this question.