title: Prehospital delay in individuals with acute coronary disease: concordance of medical records and follow-up phone interviews.
abstract: Patient-associated delay in seeking medical care in persons with acute coronary disease is receiving increasing importance given the time-dependent benefits associated with myocardial reperfusion therapies. We examined the extent of concordance between self-reported information about prehospital delay provided by patients to hospital staff at the time of hospitalization for coronary disease compared with information obtained from a telephone interview approximately 2 months following hospital discharge. The sample included 316 patients with acute myocardial infarction or unstable angina at 43 hospitals who had delay time information available from both data sources. The extent of agreement between the medical record and telephone accounts of delay was 47% in the total study sample, 53% in patients with acute myocardial infarction, and 40% in patients with unstable angina. These results suggest that a telephone interview carried out several months following hospitalization for acute coronary disease may not provide sufficiently reliable information about prehospital delay.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, Mass. 01655, USA.
authors.forename: Robert J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Goldberg
authors.forename: Stavroula
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Osganian
authors.forename: Jane
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zapka
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Mitchell
authors.forename: Vera
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Bittner
authors.forename: Mo
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Daya
authors.forename: Russell
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Luepker
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000789:Angina, Unstable / Q000628:therapy*; D004632:Emergency Medical Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008297:Male; D008487:Medical History Taking; D008875:Middle Aged; D015337:Multicenter Studies as Topic; D009203:Myocardial Infarction / Q000628:therapy*; D010342:Patient Acceptance of Health Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D016032:Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012650:Self Disclosure; D013995:Time; D014481:United States