Factors Responsible for Late Presentation of STEMI Patients in our Population

Objective: To determine the reasoning factors responsible for late presentation of ST elevation myocardial infarction patients at tertiary care Hospital. Methodology: This cross-sectional study took place at cardiology department of Liaquat         University of medical and health sciences. Study duration was 6 months from June 2018 to November 2018. All the patients those were diagnosed as ST elevation myocardial infarction, reached delayed in Hospital and either of gender were included. Patients or their attendant were interviewed regarding demographic information including reasons of delayed reaching in Hospital. All the information was collected via self-made proforma. Data analysis was done by SPSS version 20. Results: Total 64 patients were interviewed to assess the reasons of late arrival. Patients mean age was 55.90+12.88 years. Males were commonest 51(79.7%). Most of the cases 44(68.8%) were illiterate. According to the pain arising time most of the patients 84.4% reached after 24 hours. Most common reasons which were responsible for late arrival were lack of medical knowledge and late referral by local health care facilities; followed by 10.9% patients had financial issues, 12.5% due to negligence and 09.4% reached late due to unavailability of resources. Conclusion: In these study causes of delayed arrival were lack of medical knowledge and late referral followed by financial problems, negligence and unavailability of resources.