Factors associated with prehospital delay in patients with acute myocardial infarction

Introduction: Treatment of patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI) is time related, so delay in treatment could affect prognosis. Recognizing pre-hospital or in-hospital delays in initiating treatment and reducing these factors is very efficacious in treatment of these patients. Methods: A cross sectional study was carried out on 227 patients with acute myocardial infarction. Demographic data, educational level, marital status, type of transfer to hospital and delay in arrival to hospital were recorded. The data were analyzed by SPSS. Results: 35.7% of patients arrived during one hour of symptom onset, and 7.9% arrived after 24 hours of symptom onset. Patients with high level education (P=0.049) and a family history of coronary artery disease (P=0.011) had significantly less delay in arriving to hospital. Age, marital status, gender, and route of transfer to hospital were not related with pre-hospital delay. Patients thought most common cause of delay in arrival was unawareness of coronary artery disease (38.8%) and self-medication (34.3%). Conclusion: Increasing awareness of patients about cardiovascular symptoms and their risk factors could be helpful in patients seeking medical care. Therefore, general education via media and primary and middle schools could be helpful .