Muhammad Ismail, Khalid Iqbal Bhatti, Tariq Ashraf.
Frequency and factors responsible for delayed arrival of myocardial infarction (STEMI) patients to hospital.
Pak Heart J Jan ;50(3):184-9.

Objective: To determine frequency and factors leading to delayed arrival of patients of AMI to a tertiary care hospital. Methodology: A cross-sectional study was conducted at National Institute of Cardiovascular Disease, Karachi from December 2011 to June 2012. Patients of STEMI who were admitted in NICVD were interviewed within 72 hours of admission that included demographic and clinical data. Result: A total of 200 patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI) were included in this study. Out of them 149(74.5%) were male and 51(25.5) were female. The average age of the patients was 54.29+-12.28 years. The average time taken from the onset of symptom to arrival at hospital was 5:48+-6:24 h:min. Similarly, average distance traveled was 12.53+-7.89 km. Frequency of delayed arrival (>1 hours) of patients was observed in 142(71%) cases while 58(29%) patients arrived within 1 hours (not delay). Most of the patients used public transport to arrive at hospital whereas only 21.5% patients used ambulance. Conclusion: The factors found responsible for delay in arrival at hospital were illiteracy, low income, long distance from hospital, hypertension and use of public transport.

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