Search

Objective: In this retrospective study, we investigated the association between air pollution and weather conditions with the incidence of acute myocardial infarction (AMI) in the city of Kutahya., Methods: A total of 402 patients who were admitted with acute ST segment elevation MI and non-ST segment elevation MI were included in the study in 1 year. Daily maximum, minimum, and mean ambient temperature and mean barometric pressure data were obtained from the Kutahya Meteorology Department. Daily air pollution data were obtained from the Web site of National Air Quality Observation Network (http://www.havaizleme.gov.tr)., Results: Increase in ambient air temperature in the day of MI and 2 days before the day of MI according to their control days was correlated with increase in number of MI cases. When we grouped the patients according to ages as 30-54, 55-65, and >65 years, we found that there was a relation between sulfur dioxide (SO2) and the occurrence of AMI for the age group of 30-54 for the same day (D0) (P<.017). The number of AMIs was the lowest in fall season, whereas the number of AMIs was the highest in winter season., Conclusion: There was no statistically significant association between the particulates with diameter b=10 μm, SO2 concentrations, air pressure, and the risk of AMI, but there was statistically significant relation between occurrence of MI and SO2 for the patients under age of 55 years. The number of AMIs was the lowest in fall season, whereas the number of AMIs was the highest in winter season., (Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Objective: The objective of this study is to assess the efficacy of WhatsApp application as a communication method among the emergency physician (EP) in a rural hospital without percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) capability and the interventional cardiologist at a tertiary PCI center., Background: Current guidelines recommend that patients with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) receive primary PCI within 90 minutes. This door-to-balloon (D2B) time has been difficult to achieve in rural STEMI., Methods and Results: We evaluated 108 patients with STEMI in a rural hospital with emergency department but without PCI capability to determine the impact of WhatsApp triage and activation of the cardiac catheterization laboratory on D2B time. The images were obtained from cases of suspected STEMI using the smartphones by the EP and were sent to the interventional cardiologist via the WhatsApp application (group 1, n=53). The control group included concurrently treated patients with STEMI during the same period but not receiving triage (group 2, n=55). The D2B time was significantly shorter in the intervention group (109±31 vs 130±46 minutes, P<.001) with significant reduction in false STEMI rate as well., Conclusion: This study demonstrates that use of WhatsApp triage with activation of the cardiac catheterization laboratory was associated with shorter D2B time and results in a greater proportion of patients achieving guideline recommendations. The method is cheap, quick, and easy to operate., (Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)