The Lay Public's Knowledge of the Most Common Acute Coronary Syndrome Symptoms Experienced by Women and Men

Abstract

Background: Although extensive research and public education for the last 2 decades has focused on symptom differences experienced by men and women, little is known about what acute coronary syndrome symptoms the lay public associates with men, with women, and with both men and women. Objective: The aim of this study was to describe what acute coronary syndrome symptoms the lay public associates with men, with women, and with both men and women and to explore whether differences in participant gender affect how these symptoms are associated. Methods: A descriptive, cross-sectional survey design was used, using an online survey. We recruited women (n = 209) and men (n = 208) living in the United States from the crowdsourcing platform Mechanical Turk in April and May 2021. Results: Most participants (78.4%) selected a chest symptom as the most common acute coronary syndrome symptom experienced by men, compared with only 49.4% who selected a chest symptom as the most common for women. Almost half (46.9%) of women indicated that they believe men and women have "fairly different" or "very different" acute coronary syndrome symptoms, compared with 17.3% of men. Conclusions: Whereas most participants associated symptoms with both men and women's experiences of acute coronary syndrome symptoms, some associated symptoms in ways that are not reflected in the literature. Additional research is needed to further understand the impact of messaging on acute coronary syndrome symptom differences between men and women and the lay public's interpretation of these messages.