| Summary: | Background: In Myocardial infarction (MI) it is well established that timely diagnosis and treatment may reduce mortality and improve the prognosis. Therefore it is important that patients with MI seek medical care as soon as possible. Patients with diabetes have a higher risk for MI and worse prognosis compared to patients without diabetes. Previous research is inconclusive regarding symptoms and pre-hospital delay times in MI among patients with diabetes and there is lack of research in how patients with diabetes perceive, interpret and respond to MI symptoms. Aim: The overall aim of this thesis was to explore symptoms and care seeking behaviour during MI in patients with diabetes. Methods: This thesis comprises four studies. Studies I and II were based on data from the Northern Sweden MONICA myocardial infarction registry to describe symptoms in 4028 patients (I) and pre-hospital delay and factors associated with pre-hospital delay of ≥ 2 h in 4266 patients (II). Study III included 694 patients, at five hospitals in Sweden. The patients answered a questionnaire about symptoms, response to symptoms and delay times in MI. In study IV data were collected through interviews about experiences of getting MI and the decision to seek medical care. Results: Study I showed that typical MI symptoms according to MONICA criteria were common in both men and women, both with and without diabetes, and no differences between the groups were found. Study II showed that more patients with diabetes had pre-hospital delay times of ≥ 2 h compared to patients without diabetes. In Study III, chest pain was the most common self-reported MI symptom in patients with and without diabetes and there were no differences between the groups. Shoulder pain/discomfort, shortness of breath and tiredness were more common in patients with diabetes whereas cold sweat was less common compared to patients without diabetes. Less than 40 % of patients with diabetes called the emergency medical services (EMS) as their first medical contact (FMC) and ...
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