Patients with ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) who travel to hospital by ambulance receive reperfusion therapy more quickly, an Australian study shows.

But only 58% of people with STEMI use an ambulance to get to hospital, leading the researchers to call for better public health messaging to encourage patients to dial triple zero.

The authors analysed data from 43 hospitals across the nation that contributed data to the Cooperative National Registry of Acute Coronary Care Guideline Adherence and Clinical Events (CONCORDANCE).

They looked at data for patients with confirmed STEMI presenting to emergency departments between 2009 and 2017 and compared the 1616 who arrived by ambulance with 1149 who arrived by other means.