Pre-hospital attitudes adopted by patients faced with the symptoms of acute myocardial infarction

This case series aimed to evaluate the behavior adopted by patients during the pre-hospital phase of acute myocardial infarction (AMI). A total of 115 AMI sufferers with ST-segment elevation were evaluated. The chi-square and Fisher's exact tests were applied. The individuals that did not associate the symptoms with cardiovascular disease most often attributed them to the following sources: gastrointestinal (38%), musculoskeletal (29.7%), food and/or medication poisoning (8.5%) and arising from the respiratory apparatus (6.3%). The proportion of major outcomes and of patients that arrived in the emergency department after 12 hours was higher among women, individuals with monthly income of up to one minimum wage, those who used analgesics and did not associate the symptoms with cardiovascular disease. It was found that individuals in unfavorable socioeconomic conditions, who interpreted the symptoms incorrectly, arrived later at the emergency department and had worse intra-hospital outcomes.

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Gouveia,Viviane de Araújo, Victor,Edgar Guimarães, Lima,Sandro Gonçalves de
Format: Digital revista
Language:English
Published: Escola de Enfermagem de Ribeirão Preto / Universidade de São Paulo 2011
Online Access:http://old.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0104-11692011000500004
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