We used a non-probability sampling method.
The study population
consisted of all patients (647 patients, 527 men and 120
women) hospitalized with AMI, based on the diagnostic criteria
for the definition of AMI, to the two hospitals during the 2-year
period.
Four hundred seventy-seven patients (participation rate
73.7%) met the inclusion criteria (384 men and 93 women),
agreed to participate in our study and constituted our study
sample.
The diagnostic criteria included a typical rise and fall of
biochemical markers of myocardial necrosis (preferably troponin)
with at least one value above the 99th percentile of the upper
reference limit together with evidence of myocardial ischaemia
with at least one of the following symptoms of ischaemia: electrocardiographic
changes indicative of new ischaemia (new
ST–T changes or new left bundle branch block), development of
the pathological Q wave in the electrocardiograph (ECG),
imaging evidence of new loss of viable myocardium or new
regional wall motion abnormality (Thygesen et al. 2007).