[Cognitive and psychological effects on the population of a cardiac emergency campaign]

The major part of the delay from onset of symptoms of acute myocardial infarction to arrival in hospital is caused by patients' delayed reporting. Therefore, a media campaign was initiated by the Swiss Heart Foundation with the goal of informing people about the seriousness of chest pain and about the importance of proper action in these situations. An initial 2 months' national campaign was followed by a 3 weeks' intensive local campaign in a mixed urban/suburban area in central Switzerland. The aim of the study was to evaluate the effects of this media campaign on patients information and reaction in case of cardiac emergency, and to study the possible impact of this campaign on anxiety levels and other emotions. Telephone interviews were performed before and after both the national and the local campaign using a cohort of 500 persons in a longitudinal and 4 x 500 persons in a cross-sectional study. The information had reached about 50% of the population by the end of the local campaign. The percentage of persons who would call the emergency medical services immediately in case of chest pain increased from 40% to 57% in the cross-sectional and from 48% to 65% in the longitudinal study (p < 0.001), and the percentage of persons who would call the ambulance team immediately on witnessing a person with a heart attack increased from 25 to 92% in the cross-sectional and to 96% in the longitudinal study (p < 0.001). Anxiety levels and other negative emotions decreased slightly during the campaign (p < 0.05), whereas feelings of personal safety revealed a slight increase (p < 0.01).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)