Pre-hospital delay in patients with acute myocardial infarction in China: findings from the Improving Care for Cardiovascular Disease in China-Acute Coronary Syndrome (CCC-ACS) project

To describe the duration of the pre-hospital delay time and identify factors associated with prolonged pre-hospital delay in patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI) in China.

Data were collected from November 2014 to December 2019 as part of the Improving Care for Cardiovascular Disease in China-Acute Coronary Syndrome (CCC-ACS) project. A total of 33,386 patients with AMI admitted to the index hospitals were included in this study. Two-level logistic regression was conducted to explore the factors associated with the pre-hospital delay and the associations between different pre-hospital delay and in-hospital outcomes.

Of the 33,386 patients with AMI, 70.7% of patients arrived at hospital ≥ 2 h after symptom onset. Old age, female, rural medical insurance, symptom onset at early dawn, and non-use of an ambulance predicted a prolonged pre-hospital delay (all P < 0.05). Hypertension and heart failure at admission were only significant in predicting a longer delay in patients with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) (all P < 0.05). A pre-hospital delay of ≥ 2 h was associated with an increased risk of mortality [odds ratio (OR) = 1.36, 95% CI: 1.09–1.69, P = 0.006] and major adverse cardiovascular events (OR = 1.22, 95% CI: 1.02–1.47, P = 0.033) in patients with STEMI compared with a pre-hospital delay of < 2 h.

Prolonged pre-hospital delay is associated with adverse in-hospital outcomes in patients with STEMI in China. Our study identifies that patient characteristics, symptom onset time, and type of transportation are associated with pre-hospital delay time, and provides focuses for quality improvement.