title: Pre-hospital delay in acute myocardial infarction: judgement of symptoms and resistance to pain.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To estimate the time of decision (TD) to look for medical care and the time of arrival (TA) at the health service for men (M) and women (W) suffering from acute myocardial infarction and to analyze the influence of the interpretation of pain and pain resistance behaviors during these times.
  
  
  METHODS
  This is an exploratory research, performed at the university hospital in Salvador/Bahia. 43 W and 54 M were interviewed. To study the dependence among sociodemographic and gender variables, the Fisher Exact Test was used. To analyze times, a geometric mean (GM) was used. In order to verify the association between the GM of TD and TA and the judgment of pain, and between the GM of TD and TA and the behavior of resistance to pain, as well as to test the time of interaction between the gender variable and other variables of interest, the robust regression model was used. The statistical significance adopted was 5%.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The GM of the TD for M was 1.13 h; for W, 0.74 h. The GM of the TA was 1.74 h for M and 1.47 h for W. Those who did not recognize the symptoms of AMI and presented behavior of resistance to pain had higher TD and TA, being the associations significant. Gender did not change the associations of interest.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The findings demonstrate the importance of health education aiming at the benefits of early treatment.
authors.affiliation: PhD in Nursing Associate Professor II, Federal University of Bahia, Salvador, BA, Brazil.
authors.forename: Fernanda Carneiro
authors.initials: FC
authors.lastname: Mussi
authors.affiliation: Nurse, Graduate Student in the Nursing Graduate Program, EEUFBA, Salvador, BA, Brazil.
authors.forename: Andreia Santos
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Mendes
authors.affiliation: Nurse, Masters in the Collective Health Graduate Program, UFBA, Salvador, BA, Brazil.
authors.forename: Tassia Lacerda de
authors.initials: TL
authors.lastname: Queiroz
authors.affiliation: Nurse, PhD in Nursing Lecturer, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, SP, Brazil.
authors.forename: Ana Lúcia Siqueira
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Costa
authors.affiliation: PhD in Nursing, Adjunct Professor IV, EEUFBA, Salvador, BA, Brazil.
authors.forename: Álvaro
authors.initials: Á
authors.lastname: Pereira
authors.affiliation: MD, PhD Professor, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, SP, Brazil.
authors.forename: Bruno
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Caramelli
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D002637:Chest Pain / Q000523:psychology*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003657:Decision Making; D004636:Emergency Service, Hospital; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009203:Myocardial Infarction / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D010342:Patient Acceptance of Health Care; D010353:Patient Education as Topic; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012737:Sex Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013997:Time Factors; D014187:Transportation of Patients