Paper
Thursday, 20 July 2006
This presentation is part of : Interventions for Women's Health Issues
Myocardial Infarction: Time of Day Symptoms Begin in Adult Females and Adult Males
Lea Ann Matura, PhD, RN, NP-C, Coronary Care Unit, The Methodist Hospital, Houston, TX, USA
Learning Objective #1: describe the chronobiological effects of myocardial infarctions.
Learning Objective #2: discuss the most common time of day females experience myocardial infarctions.
The purpose of the study was to determine if there were differences in the time of day myocardial infarctions (MI) occur between adult females and males and if there were differences among genders in time of presentation for treatment. A two group, non-experimental chart review was conducted. Two hundred seventy-three randomly selected patient charts with a discharge diagnosis of acute MI were included, 109 females and 164 male. The raw data for time were converted to categorical variables: 00:00 to 06:00 “night”; 06:01 to 12:00 “morning”; 12:01 to 18:00 “afternoon”; and 18:01-23:59 “evening”. Three research questions were investigated. First, what time of day do females experience MIs as opposed to males? Of 109 females, 26 percent had MI symptoms begin at night; 30 percent morning; 29 percent afternoon; and 15 percent evening. In comparison, of 164 males, 27 percent had MIs at night; 30 percent morning; 32 percent afternoon; and 12 percent evening. The second research question addressed if there was a difference between the time that MI related symptoms begin in adult females and males with? There was not a statistical difference between females and males and the time of day MI related symptoms began. Third, was there a difference between time of symptom onset of myocardial infarctions and time of presentation for medical treatment among females and males? Ninety-nine females and 154 males were included to analyze this question. The mean time of presentation for medical treatment after symptom onset for females was 327 minutes. In comparison, males presented for medical treatment on an average of 330 minutes. The independent samples t-test results indicated that the differences were not statistically significant. In conclusion, the majority of patients, whether female or male, had MIs in the morning and afternoon and presented for treatment in similar time frames.

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