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Prevalence of Aspirin Use among Patients Calling 9‐1‐1 for Chest Pain
Author(s) -
Jaffy Matthew B.,
Meischke Hendrika,
Eisenberg Mickey S.
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
academic emergency medicine
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.221
H-Index - 124
eISSN - 1553-2712
pISSN - 1069-6563
DOI - 10.1111/j.1553-2712.1998.tb02686.x
Subject(s) - medicine , aspirin , chest pain , myocardial infarction , emergency department , population , prospective cohort study , emergency medicine , anesthesia , physical therapy , psychiatry , environmental health
.Objective: Early aspirin administration during an acute myocardial infarction (AMI) decreases morbidity and mortality. This investigation examined the extent to which patients with a complaint of chest pain, the symptom most identified with AMI by the general population, self‐administer aspirin before the arrival of emergency medical services (EMS) personnel. Methods: In this prospective, cross‐sectional prevalence study, data were derived through the analysis of EMS incident reports for patients with a complaint of chest pain from June 1, 1997, to August 31,1997. Results: The study included 694 subjects. One hundred two (15%) took aspirin for their chest pain before the arrival of EMS personnel. Of the 322 subjects who reported taking aspirin on a regular basis, 82 (26%) took additional aspirin for their acute chest pain. Only 20 (5%) of the 370 patients who were not using regular aspirin therapy self‐administered aspirin acutely (p < 0.001). In addition, patients with lower intensity of chest pain (p = 0.03) were more likely to take aspirin for their chest pain. Conclusion: Only a relatively small fraction of individuals calling 9‐1‐1 with acute chest pain take aspirin prior to the arrival of EMS personnel. These individuals are more likely to self‐administer aspirin if they are already taking it on a regular basis. It is also possible that they are less likely to take aspirin if their chest pain is more severe.