The investigation of treatment-seeking decision on patients with acute myocardial infarction and related factors

Abstract

Objective To explore the treatment-seeking delay time and the main factors associated with decisional delay for Acute Myocardial Infarction(AMI) patients. Methods A total of 150 cases of patient in two hospitals of Shanghai were selected by purposive sampling from January to May 2008. Participates were asked to fdl out the Chinese version of behavior questionnaire for AMI within 48 hours of hospital admission. Results The median length of time for patients with to make a treatment-seeking decision was 180 minutes , and the mean time was 417minutes, the median time for transportation to seek hospital care was about 30 minutes and in-hospital delay was about 20 minutes, and the mean time was 63 minutes and 37minutes, there were 72% patients delayed to make treatment-seeking decision for more than 1 hour. In the Logistic analysis, educational level, medical insurance and degree of the pain appeared as predictors to decrease the delay for making a treatment-seeking decision. In addition, recurrent MI, attacked at home and was forced to go to hospital appeared to be predictors to influence the decision for making a prompt treatment-seeking decision. Conclusions Patients show significant delay in making treatment-seeking decision, which is mainly affected by the patients' psychological factors and social support system. Key words: Factor analysis; Treatment-seeking decision; Delay; Acute myocardial infarction