Association Between Symptom Characteristics, Knowledge Sources, and Patient Interpretation of Acute Coronary Syndrome: Insights From the Japanese Circulation Society Chest Pain Registry.

Abstract

Background: The associations between symptom characteristics and patients' interpretations and sources of knowledge about acute coronary syndrome (ACS) remains unclear.

Methods and results: We enrolled 81 patients with ACS. Patients who misinterpreted their symptoms more frequently reported atypical features such as tenderness (13.3% vs 0%; P=0.028) and syncope (11.8% vs 0%; P=0.011). Common knowledge sources among patients who correctly interpreted their symptoms included television, healthcare professionals, and the internet without social media.

Conclusions: Patients experiencing atypical symptoms often misinterpret them. Most knowledge sources for those who interpreted correctly were traditional.