Sehrish Khan, Rizwan Aziz Memon, Muhammad Farhan Khan, Mudassir Iqbal Dar.
Misconception of heart attack pain with heart burn - how common is it?.
Pak Heart J Jan ;50(2):89-93.

Objective: To determined the percentage of myocardial infarction (MI) patients in Karachi who mistook their MI pain with heartburn and to study which socioeconomic class had the highest misconception. Methodology: This cross sectional study was conducted from June 2014 to Feb 2016. Patients included in the study were divided in upper, middle and lower socioeconomic classes. Upper and middle class patients were taken from Liaquat National Hospital while lower class patients were chosen from Civil Hospital Karachi. There were no age or gender limitations. Informed consent was taken. Subjects diagnosed with MI were interviewed according to a pre-designed questionnaire. Result: Of total 375 patients , 71.5% were males . Hypertension, diabetes and smoking was present in 66.9%, 36.8% and 36% respectively.Misconception of MI pain with heartburn was reported in 59.5% cases in first attack and 3.3% in successive attacks. This misconception in lower,middle and upper class was 66.4%, 54.4% and 57.6% respectively.Gastric reflux disease was reported in 45.9% people. Gastric reflux diseases and epigastric pain showed association with this misconception(p<0.001). Among gastric diseases, indigestion was most commonly seen as a positive misconception (p<0.001). Conclusion: Misconception of MI pain with heartburn is very common,mostly prevalent in lower socio-economic class, followed by upper and middle classes. It was more common with gastric reflux diseases and epigastric pain. Among gastric diseases, indigestion and bloating showed significant association as a misconception.

PakMediNet -Pakistan's largest Database of Pakistani Medical Journals - http://www.pakmedinet.com