BACKGROUND Outcomes following an acute myocardial infarction (AMI) are generally more favorable if prehospital delay time is minimized. METHODS We examined the association of neighborhood household income (nINC) and health insurance status with prehospital delay among a weighted sample of 9700 men and women with a validated, definite, or probable AMI in the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities...

OBJECTIVE Lung cancer is not only one of the most prevalent cancers but is also a lethal disease with a very low 5-year survival rate. Delay in diagnosis further reduces the chance of early treatment and worsens patients' survival. The purpose of this study was to understand the delay in the diagnosis of lung cancer under the healthcare system in Taiwan, and to identify the factors associated w...

OBJECTIVE To determine lengths and causes of pre- and in-hospital delays in thrombolytic treatment. DESIGN A prospective national survey covering 48 of the 51 Finnish university, central and general hospitals to obtain basic data before the start of a public campaign to shorten patient-related delay in acute myocardial infarction. SUBJECTS One thousand and twelve consecutive patients with a...

Background: Developmental delay is one of the most common problems of children referred to pediatric neurology clinics. While there are reports on rehabilitation and its effects, limited studies are available to delineate pharmacotherapy of such children. Because many children with developmental delay have abnormal findings in electroencephalography, we aimed to treat a group of these children,...

OBJECTIVE To identify weak links in the early chain of care for acute stroke. SETTING 9 emergency hospitals in western Sweden, each with a stroke unit, and the emergency medical services (EMS). PARTICIPANTS All patients hospitalised with a first and a final diagnosis of stroke-between 15 December 2010 and 15 April 2011. The university hospital in the city of Gothenburg was compared with 6 c...

BACKGROUND Although best practices have been developed for achieving door-to-needle (DTN) times ≤60 minutes for stroke thrombolysis, critical DTN process failures persist. We sought to compare these failures in the Emergency Department at an academic medical center and a community hospital. METHODS AND RESULTS Failure modes effects and criticality analysis was used to identify system and proc...

HYPOTHESIS We hypothesized that complications of gallstone disease are more common than previously recognized and are related to treatment delay. DESIGN Retrospective review. PATIENTS Data for 248 consecutive patients from a university hospital in 1995-1996 and 40,571 patients identified through the 1996 California Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development database who underwent c...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Despite availability of reperfusion therapy for acute ischemic stroke, most patients remain ineligible mainly because of late hospital arrival. We hypothesized that perceptual, social, and behavioral factors affect delays in seeking help after symptom onset. METHODS Patients presenting with stroke symptoms were interviewed about symptom experiences, interpretations, and...

Understanding the factors that operate during pregnancy, delivery and postpartum is the key to success in the prevention of maternal mortality. This cross-sectional survey in Jordan for the years 2007-2008 aimed to identify the role of substandard care and delays in maternal deaths. All maternal deaths among women aged 15-49 years over this period (n = 76) were investigated retrospectively thro...

conclusions a significant association was found between ages of women with their delays in consultation. delay is still prevalent amongst women with breast cancer. it seems necessary to design educating programs for women in both clinical and community settings, about breast cancer and early detection practices. results the mean age of women was 46.99 years. 38.4% of women were ≤ 40 years. 61% ...