The effect of symptoms on prehospital delay time in patients with acute myocardial infarction

OBJECTIVE: To improve time to treatment, the effects of acute myocardial infarction (AMI) symptoms on prehospital delay time (PDT) were investigated. METHODS: Patients with AMI completed a questionnaire on their AMI symptoms and their general knowledge of AMI symptoms. RESULTS: In total, 116 patients completed questionnaires. The mean PDT was 7.3 ± 2.4 h; the median PDT was 2.2 h. Each patient experienced a mean of 3.6 symptoms during their AMI. PDT was significantly shorter in the following groups: patients with chest compression pain/chest discomfort, profuse sweating or dyspnoea than in patients with other symptoms; patients presenting with typical rather than atypical symptoms; patients with pain scores >6 compared with scores ≤6; patients who were aware rather than unaware of AMI symptoms. Patients actually having AMI symptoms and patients being aware of AMI symptoms were inversely correlated with PDT. There was a linear relationship between pain scores and PDT. CONCLUSION: Public awareness of AMI symptoms should be enhanced, in order to shorten PDT and improve AMI survival rates.