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Photo of Mattias Ohlsson

Mattias Ohlsson

Professor

Photo of Mattias Ohlsson

Likelihood of acute coronary syndrome in emergency department chest pain patients varies with time of presentation

Author

  • Ulf Ekelund
  • Mahin Akbarzadeh
  • Ardavan Khoshnood
  • Jonas Björk
  • Mattias Ohlsson

Summary, in English

Background: There is a circadian and circaseptal (weekly) variation in the onset of acute coronary syndrome (ACS). The aim of this study was to elucidate whether the likelihood of ACS among emergency department (ED) chest pain patients varies with the time of presentation.



Methods: All patients presenting to the Lund ED at Skåne University Hospital with chest pain or discomfort during 2006 and 2007 were retrospectively included. Age, sex, arrival time at the ED and discharge diagnose (ACS or not) were obtained from the electronic medical records.



Results: There was a clear but moderate circadian variation in the likelihood of ACS among presenting chest pain patients, the likelihood between 8 and 10 am being almost twice as high as between 6 and 8 pm. This was mainly explained by a variation in the ACS likelihood in females and patients under 65 years, with no significant variation in males and patients over 65 years. There was no significant circaseptal variation in the ACS likelihood.



Conclusions: Our results indicate that there is a circadian variation in the likelihood of ACS among ED chest pain patients, and suggest that physicians should consider the time of presentation to the ED when determining the likelihood of ACS.

Department/s

  • Medicine, Lund
  • Faculty of Medicine
  • Department of Astronomy and Theoretical Physics - Undergoing reorganization
  • EpiHealth: Epidemiology for Health

Publishing year

2012

Language

English

Publication/Series

BMC Research Notes

Volume

5

Issue

420

Document type

Journal article

Publisher

BioMed Central (BMC)

Topic

  • Other Clinical Medicine
  • Physiology
  • Cardiac and Cardiovascular Systems

Keywords

  • Acute Coronary Syndrome
  • Chest pain
  • Sex differences
  • Akut Koronart Syndrom
  • AKS
  • Bröstsmärta
  • Könsskillnader

Status

Published

Project

  • AIR Lund Chest pain - More efficient and equal emergency care with advanced medical decision support tools

ISBN/ISSN/Other

  • ISSN: 1756-0500