title: Myocardial infarction pain: systematic description and analysis.
abstract: The aim of the study was to describe various components of pain in suspected acute myocardial infarction (MI). Ninety-four patients admitted to a Coronary Care Unit (CCU) complaining of chest pain with the preliminary diagnosis suspect MI were included in the study. Thirty-eight subjects were eventually diagnosed as having MI and 56 subjects as non-MI. A comparison of chest pain description was performed between MI and non-MI subjects. The Pain-o-meter (POM) and the Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) were used to assess pain intensity. MI patients reported more intense sensory and affective pain than non-MI patients. MI patients also reported more intense affective pain than sensory pain, whereas non-MI patients reported just the opposite. The number of affective words chosen by MI patients differentiated them more clearly from non-MI patients than any other factor in the pain description. Pain intensity was significantly correlated to the estimated size of the infarct.
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Gaston-Johansson
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Hofgren
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Watson
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Herlitz
mesh_terms: D000787:Angina Pectoris / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000209:etiology / Q000451:nursing; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009203:Myocardial Infarction / Q000150:complications* / Q000473:pathology; D009730:Nursing Assessment; D010147:Pain Measurement / Q000379:methods / Q000592:standards*; D010865:Pilot Projects; D015203:Reproducibility of Results