Research Corner: The numbers behind the Dial, Don’t Drive campaign
Poster presented at:
The 9th North American session of The International Academy of Cardiovascular Sciences, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada on Sept 8, 2022
American College of Cardiology Congress, New Orleans, Louisiana, US on March 5, 2023
Delayed Symptom Onset-to-First Medical Contact in Heart Attack is Associated with Increased Mortality
Early restoration of blood flow in blocked arteries in ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI, a serious type of heart attack) improves patient outcomes. Previous research focused on reducing the time from first medical contact (FMC) to treatment (opening the blockage). However, there has been less focus on the time between patient symptom onset (Sx) to FMC, which makes up a large portion of the total ischemic time (time that the artery is completely blocked). Longer Sx-FMC time is related to important patient outcomes including death, heart failure and quality of life.
The objective of this study was to analyze the association between Sx-FMC and FMC-treatment times and one-year mortality. After ethics approval, clinical information was collected and analyzed for 616 heart attack patients that presented between January 2013 and December 2014. The median age was 61 years and 22% of patients were female. Our study found that shorter total ischemic time was associated with lower rates of death at 1 year (1% vs 5%). In addition, the odds of death at one year increased by 6% for every 30 minutes longer total ischemic time, mainly due to longer Sx-FMC time.
In conclusion, shorter Sx-FMC times were associated with a lower one-year mortality, and should be a key area of focus in order to improve patient outcomes after heart attacks. Educational efforts, such as the Dial Don’t Drive campaign, need to be made to increase public awareness about heart attack symptoms and encourage patients to seek emergency medical care - by dialing 9-1-1.
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