Symptoms of acute myocardial infarction: Expectations of a community sample☆

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.

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