Journal article
Symptoms of acute myocardial infarction: Expectations of a community sample
Heart & lung, Vol.27(2), pp.75-81
03/01/1998
DOI: 10.1016/S0147-9563(98)90015-2
PMID: 9548063
Abstract
OBJECTIVE: To identify the lay public's expectations of the symptoms of acute myocardial infarction (AMI).
DESIGN: Street-intercept survey method.
SETTING: Four neighborhoods in a large metropolitan area.
SAMPLE: One hundred ninety-seven women and 217 men.
INSTRUMENT: The Representation of Heart Attack Symptoms questionnaire (RHAS), a 48-item instrument that identifies subjects' expectations concerning the associated symptoms of AMI and the location, quality, and intensity of the discomfort of AMI.
RESULTS: The symptoms most individuals expected during AMI included: chest pain, irregular heart beats, inability to move, and shortness of breath. The locations selected as most likely included: middle, left, and right side of the chest, upper and lower back. The most common descriptors of the expected discomfort were “tight,” “pressure,” and “heaviness.” More than 88% of subjects expected the intensity of a heart attack to be at least a 9 on a scale of 0 (No discomfort) to 10 (The most discomfort imagined).
CONCLUSIONS: The lay public have both accurate and inaccurate expectations about the symptoms of AMI.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- Symptoms of acute myocardial infarction: Expectations of a community sample
- Creators
- Julie Johnson Zerwic - University of Illinois at Chicago
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Publication Details
- Heart & lung, Vol.27(2), pp.75-81
- Publisher
- Mosby, Inc
- DOI
- 10.1016/S0147-9563(98)90015-2
- PMID
- 9548063
- ISSN
- 0147-9563
- eISSN
- 1527-3288
- Language
- English
- Date published
- 03/01/1998
- Academic Unit
- Nursing
- Record Identifier
- 9984370658702771
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