http://www.nytimes.com/library/national/science/health/071800hth-vital-heart.html
July 18, 2000
PATTERNS
Deadly Moves When a Heart Attack Hits
By JOHN O'NEIL
At least in the abstract, most people know what to do if they are struck by
severe chest pain: call an ambulance and get to a hospital.
But when it really happens, people turn out to be far more reluctant to
dial 911, much to their own detriment, a new study reports.
The study, published last week in the journal Circulation, compared survey
responses in which 962 people were asked about the proper course of action
when a heart attack was suspected and the actual steps taken in 875 cases
in the 20 communities covered.
The researchers, from the Oregon Health Sciences University in Portland and
the University of Utah Medical Center in Salt Lake City, found that while
89 percent of the people surveyed said that they would use emergency
medical services to go to a hospital, only 23 percent of the real-life
cases ended up arriving at the hospital by ambulance.
About 60 percent were driven to the hospital by someone else, while 16
percent drove themselves.
Prompt treatment of heart attacks has come to be considered critical,
especially since the development of clot-busting drugs that reduce death
rates but which can be administered effectively only within a few hours of
an attack's onset.
Those who took the longest time to reach the emergency room were those who
took antacids, suspecting that the pain was severe heartburn, those who
took aspirin in an attempt to treat the heart problem themselves, and those
who called their doctors for advice.
One of the researchers, Dr. N. Clay Mann of Utah, called that particularly
disturbing.
"Speaking with a doctor may have reduced patient anxiety in a way that made
E.M.S. transport seem optional," he said.
People who were charged for emergency services called 911 in lower numbers,
the study also found.
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