Prehospital delay in Iranian people experiencing acute myocardial infarction: A literature review

Aim:

This review study was conducted to explain the causes of prehospital delay in Iranian people experiencing myocardial infarction.

Background:

While rapid diagnosis and treatment of myocardial infarction reduces mortality, improves heart function and most importantly, improves the patientchr('39')s prognosis, studies show that some people experiencing the symptoms of myocardial infarction return to medical centers with delay.

Method:

 In this review study, SID database was used to search out articles published from 2001 to 2019. The keywords “acute myocardial infarction” and prehospital delay” was uysed to searching out the articles. Articles with accessible full text were reviewed in this study.

Findings :

The review of articles related to the factors of prehospital delay in Iranian people experiencing  acute myocardial infarction included expecting spontaneous recovery, attributing the disease to non-cardiovascular causes, unawareness of the symptoms of cardiovascular disease, not paying attention to the symptoms of the disease and taking medication arbitrarily, having an underlying disease such as diabetes, low level of pain in the onset, sex, old age, low education, low income, place of residence, insignificance of pain, being alone at the time of acute myocardial infarction, onset of symptoms from midnight to early morning, negative history of heart disease, and the gradual onset of symptoms.

Conclusion:

The results of this review showed that the most important factors in prehospital delay of Iranian people experiencing myocardial infarction individual factors and misunderstanding of the disease. Health care team should work to improve public awareness of the signs and symptoms of cardiovascular disease.