Unveiling the Determinants of Prehospital Delay in Patients With Acute Myocardial Infarction: A Cross‐Sectional Study

<b>Objective:</b> This study aims to comprehend the current status of prehospital delay among patients with acute myocardial infarction. It analyzes the correlation between various factors and prehospital delay and explores the influencing factors. <b>Methods:</b> A cross-sectional survey was conducted. From February to June 2023, 260 AMI patients were selected by consecutive sampling from the study hospital in Yanji City, Jilin Province. General Data Questionnaire, Pain level Scale, Family Support Scale, Psychological distress scale, and Chinese version of the perceived impairment of medical decision-making scale were used. SPSS 28.0 and AMOS 28.0 were employed for <i>t</i>-test, chi-square test, Pearson correlation analysis, binary logistic regression analysis, and model construction. <b>Results:</b> The median prehospital delay time was 4.67 h. There were 174 patients with prehospital delay, accounting for 66.92%. The structural equation model indicated that the total effect values of prehospital delay influencing factors from strong to weak were pain level (-0.294), a perceptual disorder of medical decision-making (0.209), psychological distress (0.084), and family support (-0.068). <b>Conclusions:</b> Approximately two-thirds of patients experience a prehospital delay. Risk factors for prehospital delay include being female, lower family monthly income, lower education level, complications, symptom relief after taking medicine, lack of health care awareness, seeing a doctor alone, psychological distress, and perceptual disorder of medical decision-making. Protective factors are the pain level and family support. <b>Patient or Public Contribution:</b> No patient or public contribution. <b>Reporting Method:</b> The authors adhered to the EQUATOR network guidelines STROBE to report observational cross-sectional studies.