Assessment of acute coronary syndrome patients' knowledge regarding treatment options for revascularization after coronary angiography

Objectives: The objective of this study was to assess the knowledge of acute coronary syndrome (ACS) patients regarding revascularization procedure following coronary angiography at a tertiary care cardiac center of Karachi, Pakistan. Methodology: This descriptive cross-sectional study included newly diagnosed adult patients of ACS admitted to the inpatients department. However, patients with the diagnosis of ST - segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) undergone primary PCI were excluded. Patients' knowledge level was assessed by interviewing patients with questionnaire consisted of a total of 10 multiple choice questions. Patients' response against each of the question was verified by the patient's hospital record file and categorized as correct or incorrect. Patients with ≥70% correct responses (7 out of 10) were categorized to have had sufficient knowledge about revascularization. Results: A total of 130 patients were included with mean age of patients was 57.42±18.43 years and majority of patients, 86.2%(112), were males. Sufficient knowledge regarding revascularization procedure was observed in only 37.7%(49) patients. Male patients had significantly higher frequency of sufficient knowledge than female patients (40.2%(45/112) vs. 22.2%(4/18); p<0.001). Similarly, knowledge level was significantly higher among urban resident than rural residents with frequency of 41.1%(39/95) vs. 28.6%(10/35); p=0.009. Likewise educational status (p<0.030) and age of the patients (p=0.003) were also found to be a significant factors associated with sufficient knowledge. Conclusion: Majority of patients had insufficient knowledge regarding acute coronary syndrome and its revascularization options among ACS patients. It is the need of hour to define strategies to so educate and counsel these patients properly. (author)