FREQUENCY OF RISK FACTORS ASSOCIATED WITH ST ELEVATION MYOCARDIAL INFARCTION

Objective: To find out the frequency of risk factors associated with STEMI patients admitted in the Cardiology unit of Holy Family Hospital Rawalpindi. Materials and Methods: A hospital based cross-sectional study was conducted between December 2017 and July 2018 in the Cardiology unit of Holy Family Hospital Rawalpindi. A total of 105 patients were interviewed. The sampling technique used was non-probability convenient sampling. All the patients were interviewed about the presence or absence of risk factors. Risk factors like diabetes mellitus, hypertension, obesity, stress and lifestyle were included. Data was analyzed using IBM SPSS version 23. Results: Out of 105 patients, 79% were STEMI patients and 20.9% were Non-STEMI patients. Mean age was 60.50 +/- 11.992years. Mean +/- SD of age for STEMI was 61.55 +/- 11.513 and mean +/- SD of age for Non-STEMI was 56.50 +/- 13.172. The difference between the mean age of STEMI and Non-STEMI was not statistically significant. (p value=0.079). Males were 60.2% and females were 39.8%. Out of the STEMI patients, 36.1% had positive family history of STEMI, 27.7% were smokers, 63.9% were hypertensive, 28.9% were diabetics, 69.9% had sedentary lifestyle, 24.1% had the history of stress, 39.8% did not consume fruits regularly and 20.5% were obese. None of the factors was found to be statistically significant. Conclusions: Mean age of the STEMI patients was higher than that of Non-Stemi patients. The most common risk factor was sedentary life style followed by hypertension and family history of STEMI. The least frequent risk factor was obesity. There was no association of any factor with STEMI.