The Effect of Symptom Recognition on Pre-hospital Delay in Patients with Acute Coronary Syndrome

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: This study was performed to determine the association of symptom recognition with pre-hospital delay in patients with acute coronary syndrome (ACS), and to determine the factors influencing symptom recognition. METHODS: A prospective study from June 1, 2009 to July 31, 2009 was performed. The pre-hospital delay was calculated by subtraction of the hospital-arrival time from the symptom-onset time. The pre-hospital delay of the patients that recognized the symptoms as cardiovascular in origin was compared to the patients that did not recognize the symptoms as cardiac in origin. In addition, the socioeconomic indexes and risk factors were evaluated. RESULTS: Eighty three subjects were enrolled from a total of 205 patients suspected of having an ACS during the study period. No statistical differences were identified in the comparison of the pre-hospital delay by socioeconomic and risk factors of ischemic heart disease. The median pre-hospital delay of the patients that recognized the symptoms as cardiac was 2.9 hours compared to 11.9 hours among the patients that did not recognize the symptoms as cardiac; this difference was statistically significant (p=0.003). There were statistically significant differences in symptom recognition between the patients that had a history of cardiovascular disease and those that did not (p=0.037), and between the patients that took aspirin and those that did not (p=0.014). In addition, the severity of symptoms differed between the patients that recognized their symptoms and those that did not; this difference was statistically significant (p=0.019). Only the severity of symptoms was statistically significant by the logistic regression analysis (p=0.018). CONCLUSION: The pre-hospital delay was shorter, if patients that recognized the symptoms as cardiac in origin. A history of cardiovascular disease, taking aspirin and severity of symptoms were factors influencing the recognition of symptoms.