Why people experiencing acute myocardial infarction delay seeking medical assistance
Rosa Carney1, Donna Fitzsimons, Martin Dempster
1Regional Cardiology Unit, A Floor, Belfast City Hospital, BT9 7AB, Belfast, UK.
Insights
Recognizing cardiac symptoms and understanding health control beliefs are key predictors for patients seeking timely medical help for myocardial infarction. Previous heart disease history did not significantly influence this decision.
Area of Science:
- Cardiology
- Health Psychology
Background:
- Patient delay in seeking medical help for myocardial infarction (MI) has severe consequences.
- Predictive factors for this delay are not well understood.
Purpose of the Study:
- To identify predictors of patient delay in seeking medical assistance after MI symptom onset.
- To analyze cognitive and behavioral factors influencing help-seeking behavior.
Main Methods:
- Administered psychological scales (Cardiac Denial of Impact, Health Locus of Control, Health Value, Limbic Languidness) to 62 MI patients.
- Data collected 3-6 days post-admission.
Main Results:
- Attributing symptoms to heart disease significantly predicted seeking help within 60 minutes.
- Health locus of control also showed a significant predictive effect.
- Prior experience with heart disease did not predict timely help-seeking.
Conclusions:
- Educating patients to recognize potential cardiac origins of symptoms is crucial.
- Interventions should address cognitive and behavioral factors in patient decision-making for acute MI.
Background:
Delay time from onset of symptoms of myocardial infarction to seeking medical assistance can have life-threatening consequences. A number of factors have been associated with delay, but there is little evidence regarding the predictive value of these indices.
Aim:
To explore potential predictors of patient delay from onset of symptoms to time medical assistance was sought in a consecutive sample of patients admitted to CCU with acute myocardial infarction.
Methods:
The Cardiac Denial of Impact Scale, Health Locus of Control Scale, Health Value Scale and Pennebaker Inventory of Limbic Languidness were administered to 62 patients between 3 and 6 days after admission.
Results:
Attribution of symptoms to heart disease and health locus of control had a significant predictive effect on patients seeking help within 60 min, while previous experience of heart disease did not.
Conclusion:
Assisting individuals to recognise the potential for symptoms to have a cardiac origin is an important objective. Interventions should take into account the variety of cognitive and behavioural factors involved in decision making.
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