When a wide range of sociodemographic, clinical, social and proximal factors are examined in the same sample population, the results of this study indicate that different factors are associated with the two different components of pre-hospital delay. This may be important in helping to develop interventions which target specific components of delay. Our findings support previous research showing that decision time accounts for almost two thirds of pre-hospital delay [19,20]. Shorter decision times were associated with being married, attributing symptoms to a heart attack, and symptom onset in the presence of a bystander. Home-to-hospital delays were shorter in patients who had other symptoms as well as chest pain, particularly non-pain symptoms. Two factors predicted both short decision times and home-to-hospital delays: the type of ACS and symptom onset away from home. Previous studies showed that both attribution of symptoms to a heart attack and diagnosis of an STEMI predicted shorter decision times and total pre-hospital delays [4,12,21,22] and this combination of factors may help to reduce decision time. Patients who experienced both STEMI and a greater number of non-pain symptoms (nausea, breathlessness etc) which may be more salient than pain, were more likely to have short home-to-hospital delays, a finding that has not been reported before. Home-to-hospital delays were not associated with attribution of symptoms to a heart attack, but to the number and variety of symptoms. Patients who are found to have a STEMI possibly experience symptoms that are perceived as serious, and this may increase their motivation to reach hospital quickly. The type of ACS may therefore be associated with shorter delays in both components but for different reasons.