scholarly journals ‘Just like a normal pain’, what do people with diabetes mellitus experience when having a myocardial infarction: a qualitative study recruited from UK hospitals

BMJ Open ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (9) ◽  
pp. e015736 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nikita Berman ◽  
Melvyn Mark Jones ◽  
Daan A De Coster

ObjectiveThe objective of the study was to investigate the symptoms people with diabetes experience when having a myocardial infarction (MI), their illness narrative and how they present their symptoms to the health service.SettingThree London (UK) hospitals (coronary care units and medical wards).ParticipantsPatients were recruited with diabetes mellitus (DM) (types 1 and 2) with a clinical presentation of MI (ST elevated MI (STEMI), non-ST elevated MI (NSTEMI), acute MI unspecified and cardiac arrest). A total of 43 participants were recruited, and 39 interviews met the study criteria and were analysed. They were predominantly male (n=30), aged 40–90 years and white British (18/39), and just over a half were from other ethnic groups. The majority had type 2 DM (n=35), 24 had an NSTEMI, 10 had an STEMI and five had other cardiac events.Definitions of selection/exclusion criteriaA diagnosis of MI and DM and the ability to communicate enough English to complete the interview. Ward staff made a clinical judgement that the participant was post-treatment, clinically stable and well enough to participate.MethodsA qualitative study using taped and transcribed interviews analysed using a thematic analysis.ResultsWhile most participants did experience chest pain, it was often not their most striking symptom. As their chest pain did not match their expectations of what a ‘heart attack’ should be, participants developed narratives to explain these symptoms, including the symptoms being effects of their DM (‘hypos’), side effects of medication (oral hypoglycaemics) or symptoms (such as breathlessness and indigestion) related to other comorbidities, often leading to delays in seeking care.ConclusionsWhile truly absent chest pain during MI among people with DM was rare in this study, patients’ attenuated symptoms often led to delay in seeking attention, and this may result in delays in receiving treatment.

2021 ◽  
Vol 28 (Supplement_1) ◽  
Author(s):  
S Lee ◽  
J Zhou ◽  
CL Guo ◽  
WKK Wu ◽  
WT Wong ◽  
...  

Abstract Funding Acknowledgements Type of funding sources: None. Introduction Acute myocardial infarction (AMI) and sudden cardiac death (SCD) are major cardiovascular adverse outcomes in patients with type 2 diabetic mellitus. Although there are many risk scores on composite outcomes of major cardiovascular adverse outcomes or cardiovascular mortality for diabetic patients, these existing scores did not account for the difference in pathogenesis and prognosis between acute coronary syndrome and lethal ventricular arrhythmias. Furthermore, recent studies reported that HbA1c and lipid levels, which were often accounted for in these risk scores, have J/U-shaped relationships with adverse outcomes. Purpose The present study aims to evaluate the application of incorporating non-linear J/U-shaped relationships between mean HbA1c and cholesterol levels into risk scores for predicting for AMI and non-AMI related SCD respectively, amongst type 2 diabetes mellitus patients. Methods This was a territory-wide cohort study of patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus above the age 40 and free from prior AMI and SCD, with or without prescriptions of anti-diabetic agents between January 1st, 2009 to December 31st, 2009 at government-funded hospitals and clinics in Hong Kong. Risk scores were developed for predicting incident AMI and non-AMI related SCD. The performance of conditional inference survival forest (CISF) model compared to that of random survival forests (RSF) model and multivariate Cox model. Results This study included 261308 patients (age = 66.0 ± 11.8 years old, male = 47.6%, follow-up duration = 3552 ± 1201 days, diabetes duration = 4.77 ± 2.29 years). Mean HbA1c and high-density lipoprotein-cholesterol (HDL-C) were significant predictors of AMI under multivariate Cox regression and were linearly associated with AMI. Mean HbA1c and total cholesterol were significant multivariate predictors with a J-shaped relationship with non-AMI related SCD. The AMI and SCD risk scores had an area-under-the-curve (AUC) of 0.666 (95% confidence interval (CI)= [0.662, 0.669]) and 0.677 (95% CI= [0.673, 0.682]), respectively. CISF significantly improves prediction performance of both outcomes compared to RSF and multivariate Cox models. Conclusions A holistic combination of demographic, clinical, and laboratory indices can be used for the risk stratification of type 2 diabetic patients against AMI and SCD.


2012 ◽  
Vol 58 (3) ◽  
pp. 559-567 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yvan Devaux ◽  
Mélanie Vausort ◽  
Emeline Goretti ◽  
Petr V Nazarov ◽  
Francisco Azuaje ◽  
...  

Abstract BACKGROUND Rapid and correct diagnosis of acute myocardial infarction (MI) has an important impact on patient treatment and prognosis. We compared the diagnostic performance of high-sensitivity cardiac troponin T (hs-cTnT) and cardiac enriched microRNAs (miRNAs) in patients with MI. METHODS Circulating concentrations of cardiac-enriched miR-208b and miR-499 were measured by quantitative PCR in a case-control study of 510 MI patients referred for primary mechanical reperfusion and 87 healthy controls. RESULTS miRNA-208b and miR-499 were highly increased in MI patients (>105-fold, P < 0.001) and nearly undetectable in healthy controls. Patients with ST-elevation MI (n= 397) had higher miRNA concentrations than patients with non–ST-elevation MI (n = 113) (P < 0.001). Both miRNAs correlated with peak concentrations of creatine kinase and cTnT (P < 10−9). miRNAs and hs-cTnT were already detectable in the plasma 1 h after onset of chest pain. In patients who presented <3 h after onset of pain, miR-499 was positive in 93% of patients and hs-cTnT in 88% of patients (P= 0.78). Overall, miR-499 and hs-cTnT provided comparable diagnostic value with areas under the ROC curves of 0.97. The reclassification index of miR-499 to a clinical model including several risk factors and hs-cTnT was not significant (P = 0.15). CONCLUSION Circulating miRNAs are powerful markers of acute MI. Their usefulness in the establishment of a rapid and accurate diagnosis of acute MI remains to be determined in unselected populations of patients with acute chest pain.


1972 ◽  
Vol 17 (10) ◽  
pp. 319-325 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Afzal Mir

Out of 284 patients admitted to the Coronary-Care Unit, 60 patients showed an acute monophasic injury pattern (M-Complex) on their initial electrocardiogram (ECG). There were 13 fatalities on the first day of myocardial infarction; 6 from the M-complex group. Three of these 6 patients died with cardiac rupture. The ECG features of these 3 patients were compared with the 3 non-rupture patients. A progressive increase in the elevated R-ST segment of the M-complex with an upward ‘pull’ of the R-ST junction, proved to be an ominous ECG sign of impending cardiac rupture in patients with protracted chest pain and persistent hypertenison. The 3 non-rupture patients remained in a hypotensive state from admission to the time of death. Atrioventricular block and A-V junctional tachycardia were the commonest rhythm disturbances in patients dying with cardiac rupture.


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