Abstract

Coronary heart diseases are the main reason of mortality in most of the industrial countries. At present, the most important cause of mortality is the cardiovascular diseases on top of which one can find coronary artery disease. The present research aims at studying the clinical symptoms of myocardial infarction in men and women hospitalized in the CCU of Imam Ali Hospital in Zahedan. The present study is an analytical cross-sectional study in which 210 patients were studied; they were diagnosed with acute myocardial infraction that was confirmed by a cardiologist. The patients were hospitalized in Imam Ali Hospital in Zahedan in 2016. The information of the patients was collected through the researcher-made questionnaire. The questionnaire includes demographic information and symptoms of acute myocardial infraction. The data were analyzed using SPSS 18 and chi-square test. Moreover, in the present study p<0.05 was determined as the significance level. In the present study, 59 percent of the female participants and 72 percent of the male participants were married. Junior high school (middle school) was the most frequent educational level for both genders: 35 percent of the females and 45 percent of the males had this educational level. Moreover, with respect to symptoms such as anorexia, nausea, indigestion, heartburn, stomach flatulence, tinnitus, and vertigo, no significant difference was observed between the two groups (P>0.05). However, symptoms such as vomiting, dyspnea, fatigue, and anxiety were significantly more in women than men were. The findings of the present study indicate that atypical symptoms especially in women are likely to cause women's delay to visit the doctor and delayed decision of diagnosing and treating by the medical team. Thus, it is essential and recommended to provide programs to teach the whole society as well as the healthcare workers especially in the emergency units of the hospitals.