African Americans are less likely than non-Hispanic whites to seek early treatment for a heart attack.

When someone has a heart attack, prompt treatment can be lifesaving. Clotbusting drugs started within one hour of the onset of symptoms will cut mortality risk by 50 per cent and the goal is to start therapy within two hours.

Researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago have found some striking racial differences in the speed with which people seek treatment. Surveying 239 people who had had a heart attack, they found only 13 per cent of African-Americans came into hospital within an hour of symptom onset. This is compared to 35 per cent of non-Hispanic whites.

One reason for delay - in both groups - was that people mistook the symptoms of heart attack. Expecting a knife-like dramatic pain in the center of the chest, they did not attribute a heavy, tight feeling to a heart attack. They may have tried to treat the symptoms themselves or make an appointment with their family doctor. This is the wrong approach - hospital treatment without delay is necessary if you think you are having a heart attack.

Source

Nursing Research June 2003