Public Awareness and Attitude Regarding the Symptoms of Heart Attacks

Alya A. Aljubran; Jumanah A. Almubarak; Kawther H. Alawad; Wejdan A. Alolaywi; Rabab A. Almarzooq; Hussain N. Alali; Mohammed S. Alsaad; Mustafa S. Albagshi; Zainab Amjad; Eman Elsheikh

doi:10.5334/gh.1492

Figures & Tables

Table 1

Demographic characteristics of study participants.

CATEGORY	FREQUENCY	%
Age, years
18–25	99	23.3
26–35	88	20.8
36–45	102	24.1
46–55	93	21.9
≥65	42	9.9
Sex
Female	217	51.2
Male	207	48.8
Education level
Illiterate	7	1.7
Primary school	4	0.9
Middle school	13	3.1
High school	109	25.7
Diploma	51	12
Bachelor’s degree	214	50.5
Postgraduate	26	6.1
Marital status
Single	98	23.1
Married	308	72.6
Divorced	11	2.6
Widow	7	1.7
Employment status
Employed	181	42.7
Unemployed	38	9
Student	86	20.3
Housewife	71	16.7
Retired	48	11.3
Pre-existing conditions
Hypertension	60	14.2
DM	46	10.8
Dyslipidemia	29	6.8
Heart diseases	15	3.5
Stroke	2	0.5
None	305	71.9

Participants’ knowledge about heart attacks (HAs). Bars show the percentage of respondents who answered each knowledge item affirmatively (e.g., 96% had heard about heart attacks, 93.2% knew that prompt treatment is required). Font style and label size are standardized across all figures for consistency.

Table 2

Source of information about HA among the study participants.

SOURCE OF INFORMATION	FREQUENCY	PERCENT
TV	51	12.32
Internet and social media	262	63.29
Books	22	5.31
Healthcare professionals	66	15.94
Others	13	3.14
Total	414	100

[i] Abbreviation: HA, heart attack.

Table 3

Awareness of common and uncommon symptoms and risk factors of heart attacks.

FIRST DOMAIN: THE AWARENESS OF COMMON AND UNCOMMON SYMPTOMS OF HEART ATTACKS
SYMPTOMS	M	SD	RII	LA	R
Sudden pain in jaw, neck, or back	1.9575	0.83544	65.25	Medium	4
Weakness or dizziness	1.9906	0.91992	66.35333	Medium	2
Sudden pain in the chest	1.434	0.80211	47.8	Low	9
Sudden disturbance of vision in one or both eyes	1.9599	0.91264	65.33	Medium	3
Sudden pain in arms or shoulders	1.9222	0.88917	64.07333	Medium	5
Palpitation	1.4175	0.79167	47.25	Low	10
Sudden shortness of breath	1.5071	0.84212	50.23667	Low	8
Stomach pain or abdominal pain	2.1863	0.71174	72.87667	Medium	1
Slurred speech	1.8373	0.9015	61.24333	Medium	7
Numbness or tingling in the hand	1.8561	0.90209	61.87	Medium	6
SECOND DOMAIN: AWARENESS OF VARIOUS HEART ATTACK RISK FACTORS
RISK FACTORS	M	SD	RII	LA	R
Smoking	1.3113	0.696	43.71	Low	10
Obesity	1.2925	0.68371	43.08333	Low	11
Diabetes	1.8443	0.90927	61.47667	Medium	4
Lack of exercise	1.7995	0.92504	59.98333	Medium	5
Unhealthy diet	1.9316	0.92894	64.38667	Medium	2
Stress	1.7146	0.89979	57.15333	Medium	7
High blood pressure	1.4363	0.80524	47.87667	Low	9
High levels of cholesterol	1.9175	0.87263	63.91667	Medium	3
Genetics	1.5802	0.87421	52.67333	Low	8
Family history	2.1297	0.79874	70.99	Medium	1
Past history of HA	1.7311	0.90878	57.70333	Medium	6

[i] Abbreviations: HA, heart attack; LA, level of agreement; M, mean; R, rank; RII, relative importance index ((mean/3) × 100%); SD, standard deviation.

Table 4

Attitudes toward seeking medical care.

ATTITUDES TOWARD SEEKING MEDICAL CARE	M	SD	RII	LA	R
‘If I have chest pain that doesn’t stop after 15 minutes, I should get to the hospital as soon as possible’	1.559	0.82589	31.18	Very low	7
‘If I thought I was having a heart attack, I would wait until I was very sure before going to the hospital’	2.9505	1.31365	59.01	Medium	3
‘If I thought I was having a heart attack, I would go to the hospital right away’	1.6156	0.91783	32.312	Very low	6
‘If I’m having chest pain and I’m not very sure if it’s a heart attack, I should go to the hospital’	2.092	1.07564	41.84	Low	5
‘I would be embarrassed to go to the hospital if I thought I was having a heart attack but I wasn’t’	3.3679	1.33564	67.358	High	1
‘Because of the cost of medical care, I would want to be absolutely sure I was having a heart attack before going to the hospital’	3.3042	1.33842	66.084	Medium	2
‘If I thought I was having a heart attack, I would rather have someone drive me to the hospital than have an ambulance come to my home’	2.3066	1.34405	46.132	Low	4

[i] Abbreviations: LA, level of agreement; M, mean; R, rank; RII, relative importance index ((mean/3) × 100%); SD, standard deviation.

First response of the participants when witnessing heart attack (HA).

Table 5

The associations between demographics and heart attack awareness.

	PERCENTAGES OF THOSE WHO CORRECTLY IDENTIFIED WHETHER THE FOLLOWING ARE HA SYMPTOMS OR NOT
	SUDDEN PAIN IN JAW, NECK, OR BACK	WEAKNESS OR DIZZINESS	SUDDEN PAIN IN THE CHEST	SUDDEN DISTURBANCE OF VISION IN ONE OR BOTH EYES	SUDDEN PAIN IN ARMS OR SHOULDERS	SUDDEN SHORTNESS OF BREATH	ABDOMINAL PAIN.	SLURRED SPEECH	NUMBNESS OR TINGLING IN THE HAND	PALPITATION
Age, years
18–25	12.1	26	22.2	23.9	13	24.5	17.3	27.5	33.8	23.8
26–35	19.7	22.1	21.6	36.6	18.4	20.6	17.3	20.3	23.9	22
36–45	26.8	21	22.8	21.1	28.1	23.9	25.3	23.2	21.1	22.9
46–55	28.7	18.8	21.9	14.1	28.1	20.9	30.7	23.2	14.1	21.3
≥65	12.7	12.2	11.4	4.2	12.4	10.1	9.3	5.8	7	10.1
P value	0.001	0.149	0.35	0.011	0.001	0.498	0.4	0.442	0.032	0.114
Sex
Female	51.6	53.6	54	52.1	54.1	52.6	50.7	42	43.7	53.4
Male	48.4	46.4	46	47.9	45.9	47.4	49.3	58	56.3	46.6
P value	0.899	0.682	0.102	0.179	0.574	0.393	0.555	0.149	0.374	0.246
Education level
Illiterate	2.5	2.8	2.2	0	2.2	2	0	1.4	1.4	2.1
Primary school	1.3	1.1	1.2	0	1.6	1.3	2.7	0	0	0.9
Middle school	3.8	3.3	2.8	0	2.7	3.3	5.3	2.9	2.8	2.7
High school	19.7	26.5	24.7	38	21.1	25.5	18.7	31.9	32.4	27.1
Diploma	13.4	13.8	11.4	12.7	13	13.1	13.3	18.8	15.5	12.2
Bachelor’s degree	52.2	44.8	50.9	42.3	52.4	49.3	50.7	40.6	45.1	49.1
Postgraduate	7	7.7	6.8	7	7	5.6	9.3	4.3	2.8	5.8
P value	0.813	0.248	0.446	0.19	0.028	0.856	0.068	0.364	0.006	0.537
Marital status
Single	14.6	24.3	21.6	35.2	13	23.9	21.3	33.3	36.6	23.5
Married	80.3	71.8	74.7	60.6	83.2	72.2	73.3	55.1	59.2	71.6
Divorced	1.9	2.2	2.2	4.2	1.6	2.3	4	7.2	4.2	3.4
Widow	3.2	1.7	1.5	0	2.2	1.6	1.3	4.3	0	1.5
P value	0.002	0.453	0.09	0.06	0.001	0.284	0.977	0.002	0.002	0.551
Employment status
Employed	49	43.6	42.3	43.7	47.6	40.8	48	43.5	35.2	42.7
Unemployed	10.2	8.8	10.2	9.9	7	9.2	10.7	7.2	7	8.8
Student	10.8	21.5	18.8	23.9	11.4	20.9	14.7	26.1	33.8	20.7
House wife	13.4	14.9	17	15.5	20	17.6	8	14.5	14.1	17.7
Retired	16.6	11	11.7	7	14.1	11.4	18.7	8.7	9.9	10.1
P value	0.002	0.665	0.589	0.439	0.001	0.429	0.162	0.529	0.096	0.737

[i] Abbreviation: HA, heart attack.

Table 6

The associations between pre-existing health condition and heart attack awareness.

	PERCENTAGES OF THOSE WHO CORRECTLY IDENTIFIED WHETHER THE FOLLOWING ARE HA SYMPTOMS OR NOT
	SUDDEN PAIN IN JAW, NECK, OR BACK	WEAKNESS OR DIZZINESS	SUDDEN PAIN IN THE CHEST	SUDDEN DISTURBANCE OF VISION IN ONE OR BOTH EYES	SUDDEN PAIN IN ARMS OR SHOULDERS	SUDDEN SHORTNESS OF BREATH	ABDOMINAL PAIN	SLURRED SPEECH	NUMBNESS OR TINGLING IN THE HAND	PALPITATION
Hypertension
Yes	17.8	16	14.5	9.9	16.2	15.7	16	8.7	11.3	13.4
No	82.2	84	85.5	90.1	83.8	84.3	84	91.3	88.7	86.6
P value	0.177	0.119	0.301	0.488	0.427	0.253	0.751	0.314	0.281	0.348
DM
Yes	14	10.5	11.1	7	12.4	11.1	16	8.7	8.5	11.3
No	86	89.5	88.9	93	87.6	88.9	84	91.3	91.5	88.7
P value	0.106	0.546	0.448	0.521	0.63	0.34	0.226	0.295	0.672	0.308
Dyslipidemia
Yes	9.6	8.8	7.1	5.6	8.6	7.8	9.3	5.8	7	7.6
No	90.4	91.2	92.9	94.4	91.4	92.2	90.7	94.2	93	92.4
P value	0.234	0.358	0.929	0.814	0.399	0.293	0.612	0.032	0.04	0.457
Heart diseases
Yes	1.3	3.3	3.4	1.4	3.2	3.6	1.3	5.8	1.4	3.7
No	98.7	96.7	96.6	98.6	96.8	96.4	98.7	94.2	98.6	96.3
P value	0.003	0.158	0.833	0.557	0.623	0.927	0.466	0.511	0.563	0.752
Stroke
Yes	0	0	0.6	0	0.5	0.3	0	0	0	0.3
No	100	100	99.4	100	99.5	99.7	100	100	100	99.7
P value	0.127	0.246	0.733	0.815	0.762	0.643	0.792	0.785	0.349	0.53

[i] Abbreviation: HA, heart attack.

Public Awareness and Attitude Regarding the Symptoms of Heart Attacks

Figures & Tables

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