Patients with diabetes have a higher risk of coronary artery disease (CAD). This study aims to evaluate the effect of diabetes on the symptoms and the delay it causes in seeking medical treatment.
Methodology: This cross-sectional study was conducted from 1 January 2021 to 30 June 2022, in three major tertiary care hospitals in Karachi, Pakistan. Patients falling in the inclusion criteria included those who were diagnosed with ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) or Non-ST-elevation myocardial infarction (NSTEMI) and those that were clinically stable and answered the questions within 48 h of admission to the hospital with or without the help of their family members. The association of the demographic variables, symptoms, presentation delay, and distance from the hospital was determined between the diabetics and the nondiabetics using the χ 2-test. A P-value of less than 0.05 was considered significant.
Results: Among the patients with diabetes, 147 (90.7%) were smokers, 148 (91.4%) had a history of hypertension, 102 (63.0%) had a history of ischemic heart disease, and 96 (59.3%) patient's family history is significant for CAD. The higher educational level, smoking, hypertension, history of ischemic heart disease, and family history of CAD were found to be significantly related to diabetes with a P-value of less than 0.05. Patients with diabetes did not believe they have myocardial infarction was the most common cause of delay.
Conclusion: The findings of our study conclude that diabetes significantly causes a delay in myocardial infarction patients seeking medical help as compared to nondiabetics.
Keywords: diabetes; hypertension; myocardial infarction.
Copyright © 2023 The Author(s). Published by Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc.