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REACT (Rapid Early Action for Coronary Treatment)

Also: Rapid Early Action for Coronary Treatment · REACT trial

NHLBI-funded community campaign tested in 20 US cities in 1995-1997 that used mass media, community events and clinician education to get people to call 911 quickly for heart attack symptoms. Its materials became NHLBI's 'Act in Time to Heart Attack Signs' program.

Years
1995–1997
Country
United States
Topic
Cardiovascular
Asks people to
RecognizeSeek help
Strategy
Multi level communitySimple instruction
Channel
Clinical settingEventsPrintRadioTV
Audience
AdultsOlder adults

Evidence

ExperimentalMixed

Randomized trial in 10 matched city pairs (Luepker 2000): after 18 months, time from symptom onset to hospital arrival did not fall more in intervention cities. Emergency medical service use rose by a net 20% (95% CI 7%-34%), with no rise in emergency department visits for chest pain.

Sponsor (who paid)

  • National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute Federal government, funder

Credits (who made it)

Not recorded yet.

Related campaigns

Sources

  1. Luepker RV et al. Effect of a community intervention on patient delay and emergency medical service use in acute coronary heart disease: The Rapid Early Action for Coronary Treatment (REACT) Trial. JAMA 2000;284(1):60-7 evaluation · 2000 · DOI 10.1001/jama.284.1.60 · PMID 10872014
  2. Goff DC et al. Knowledge of heart attack symptoms in 20 US communities. Results from the Rapid Early Action for Coronary Treatment Community Trial. Prev Med 2004;38(1):85-93 evaluation · 2004 · DOI 10.1016/j.ypmed.2003.09.037 · PMID 14672645
  3. Hedges JR et al. Impact of community intervention to reduce patient delay time on use of reperfusion therapy for acute myocardial infarction: rapid early action for coronary treatment (REACT) trial. REACT Study Group. Acad Emerg Med 2000;7(8):862-72 evaluation · 2000 · DOI 10.1111/j.1553-2712.2000.tb02063.x · PMID 10958125
  4. Osganian SK et al. Use of emergency medical services for suspected acute cardiac ischemia among demographic and clinical patient subgroups: the REACT trial. Rapid Early Action for Coronary Treatment. Prehosp Emerg Care 2002 evaluation · 2002 · DOI 10.1080/10903120290938517 · PMID 11962564

Research notes

Created 2026-10-22 by literature mining (PubMed/OpenAlex); evidence level, outcome and findings are paraphrased from the evaluation abstracts, full texts not read. No credits: no page naming an agency was checked. Link to 'Act in Time to Heart Attack Signs' is from secondary sources; confirm on nhlbi.nih.gov. Evaluation sources added 2026-10-22 (citation snowballing / helpline pass): Osganian 2002; evidence level and outcome unchanged. Reuse terms checked 2026-10-23 by an AI research pass for #47; not yet reviewed by a person.

Record cases/nhlbi-react-trial.json, updated 2026-10-23· Link to this campaign