Effective factors on decision to undergo angioplasty from the viewpoint of patients with heart disease

BACKGROUND: Angioplasty of coronary vessels is one of the basic and elective treatments for many patients with coronary diseases. The main objective of the present study was to survey the effective factors on patientsʹ decision to undergo angioplasty from the viewpoint of patients. METHODS: In a cross-sectional study, 30 angioplasty candidates were selected using convenience sampling. Data was collected by a researcher-made questionnaire consisting of five demographic questions and ten questions about factors affecting the decision to undergo angioplasty. The respondents scored the importance of each item as very high, high, medium, low, and very low. Data was analyzed by descriptive statistics, Mann-Whitney and Kruskal- Wallis tests in SPSS. RESULTS: Financial problems were considered as an important barrier against undergoing angioplasty by 26 participants (86.7%). History of unpleasant experience was of little importance for 15 patients. Financial problems and existence of fear and anxiety were the most important factors and history of an unpleasant experience and high age were the least important. Fear was more effective on women than men (P = 0.37). Type of insurance was more important for patients with high school diploma or university degree (P = 0.33). CONCLUSION: Since financial problems and fear and anxiety were effective on the decision to undergo angioplasty, arrangements need to be made to eliminate such factors and to prepare patients with heart diseases to better accept angioplasty.