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Query: UMLS:C0008031 (chest pain)
 17,248 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Time intervals between the onset of the presenting symptom (chest pain) and arrival in a coronary care unit were studied for 221 admissions arranged by conventional means. The median figure for "patient delay" was 60 minutes, for "general-practitioner delay" 20 minutes, for "ambulance delay" 30 minutes, and for "transit delay" 30 minutes. The median "total delay" was three hours 30 minutes.Only 4.5 per cent of the patients were under intensive coronary care within one hour, the time of the highest mortality risk. A mobile coronary service should be capable of increasing the proportion of patients brought under special care within the first hour, but the time taken by the patient to realise the nature of the emergency and summon aid is likely to remain the most critical factor.
J R Coll Gen Pract 1976 Sep
PMID:Analysis of time intervals involved in admission to a coronary care unit. 97 41

The aim of this prospective study was to determine the delay between the onset of symptoms and arrival in the coronary care unit of patients with suspected acute myocardial infarction, and the relative contribution to the total delay of patient delay, method of referral (self referral or general practitioner referral) and delay in the hospital before reaching the coronary care unit. All patients admitted with chest pain to the coronary care unit at Dudley Road Hospital, Birmingham, over the six month period April-September 1989 were included in the study. Ninety five patients were referred by their general practitioner and 107 patients attended the accident and emergency department directly or arrived by ambulance without contacting their general practitioner. The proportion of self referred and general practitioner referred patients with acute myocardial infarction, angina and non-cardiac chest pain were not significantly different. The total delay was significantly longer for patients who had been referred by their general practitioner (median 5.3 hours) than for self referrals (3.2 hours, P less than 0.001), with a significantly higher proportion of self referrals arriving at the coronary care unit within six hours of the onset of symptoms (77% versus 54%, P less than 0.01). Among general practitioner referrals, initial patient delay accounted for a median of 2.5 hours and the general practitioner's response time for a median of 1.1 hours. The delay in hospital was similar for both groups of patients. In inner city areas, self referral may result in considerably less delay than general practitioner referral allowing a greater proportion of patients to receive effective thrombolytic therapy.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Br J Gen Pract 1992 Apr
PMID:Patients with suspected myocardial infarction: effect of mode of referral on admission time to a coronary care unit. 145 65

Knowledge of the prevalence (or pretest probability) of a disease is necessary for the interpretation of the results of a diagnostic test in a specific population of patients. This paper evaluates a formula for estimating the prevalence of a disease in a population, based on the proportion of patients with abnormal test results in that population and the known sensitivity and specificity of the test. The authors tested the formula by using it to estimate the prevalence of myocardial infarction in 215 patients with chest pain admitted to a coronary care unit, based on results of initial total creatine kinase determinations. The estimated prevalence was 30%. The true prevalence of myocardial infarction, based on established diagnostic criteria, was 25% (95% confidence interval 19.2%-30.8%). To further evaluate the formula, a sensitivity analysis was performed. Errors in estimated prevalence were inversely related to test sensitivity and specificity, positively related to the magnitude of the differences between presumed and true test sensitivity and specificity, and complexly related to the true prevalence of disease. This formula permits the estimation of prevalence of a disease in a population without resorting to the use of a "gold standard" test, which is often invasive or impractical. Situations are presented where the formula could be used to evaluate and improve the utilization of laboratory tests.
J Gen Intern Med
PMID:A formula for estimating pretest probability: evaluation and clinical application. 237 41

Over a six-month study in general practice 43 patients were identified whose presenting symptom was chest pain thought to be cardiac in origin. The median time from the onset of pain to the general practitioner attending was 60 minutes. On the basis of history, examination and initial electrocardiogram these patients were assessed as unlikely or likely to be infarcting. Of this latter group 15 fulfilled the inclusion criteria for intravenous streptokinase, four commencing treatment at home and 11 on admission to the local general practitioner medical ward. Each received 1.5 mega units over 60 minutes. The median time from the onset of pain to the start of therapy was 120 minutes. Of the 28 patients clinically suspected of having sustained a myocardial infarct 24 proved positive--an over-diagnosis rate of 14%. No major problems were encountered following streptokinase.
J R Coll Gen Pract 1989 Feb
PMID:Streptokinase used in general practice. 255 90

The study group identified 107 patients who left against advice from the emergency departments of three university and four community hospitals after presenting for evaluation of acute chest pain. In comparison with other emergency department patients with acute chest pain, patients who left against advice had findings that suggested they were at higher risk for myocardial infarction than patients for whom admission was not recommended but at lower risk than patients who consented to be admitted. Specific follow-up plans were made at the time of evaluation for 45 patients (42%). Survival data were obtained at 48-72 hours for 104 patients (97%) and at one month for 101 patients (94%). Fourteen patients (12%) were hospitalized within three days of their original emergency department visits, and three patients had documented acute myocardial infarctions. The only death within one month was that of a patient who died suddenly out-of-hospital later on the day of his emergency department visit. The authors conclude that patients who left against medical advice had presentations and prognoses that were in between those of patients for whom admission was not recommended and those of patients who consented to be admitted.
J Gen Intern Med
PMID:Patients with acute chest pain who leave emergency departments against medical advice: prevalence, clinical characteristics, and natural history. 333 84

The authors conducted a randomized trial of two methods for teaching medical students how to estimate the probability of coronary artery disease in patients with chest pain. Eighty-two students were given a pre-test consisting of written protocols summarizing the histories of 25 patients who had undergone coronary arteriography. The students estimated the likelihood of coronary artery disease for each case and were then randomized to receive one of two short written clinical lessons: a cardiology textbook chapter on interpreting chest pain, or a lesson based on a prediction rule for estimating probability of coronary artery disease. All students were given a post-test similar to the pre-test. Students who were given the textbook lesson showed no change in the accuracy of their probability estimates. Students who were taught the prediction rule significantly improved their probability estimates, as measured by a statistical index of calibration. The authors conclude that traditional teaching methods do not provide students with guidance in estimating disease probability, and that better teaching methods are needed. In this study, a clinical prediction rule fulfilled the need for instruction in probability estimation.
J Gen Intern Med
PMID:Teaching medical students to estimate probability of coronary artery disease. 355 79

In this study we analyze from a cardiologic and psychiatric point of view a consecutive sample of 194 patients treated in a cardiology outpatient unit. A psychiatric morbidity of 44.8% is found, expressing itself fundamentally as depression and anxiety neurosis. It is observed how the presence of chest pain significantly conditions the appearance of psychiatric disturbance, there being, moreover, a tendency in the same direction with increasing degrees of impairment of cardiac function. Certain personal and sociocultural factors also play a significant role in the development of mental illness in these patients.
Gen Hosp Psychiatry 1985 Jan
PMID:Mental illness and ischemic heart disease: analysis of psychiatric morbidity. 387 15

The practice of mindfulness meditation was used in a 10-week Stress Reduction and Relaxation Program to train chronic pain patients in self-regulation. The meditation facilitates an attentional stance towards proprioception known as detached observation. This appears to cause an "uncoupling " of the sensory dimension of the pain experience from the affective/evaluative alarm reaction and reduce the experience of suffering via cognitive reappraisal. Data are presented on 51 chronic pain patients who had not improved with traditional medical care. The dominant pain categories were low back, neck and shoulder, and headache. Facial pain, angina pectoris, noncoronary chest pain, and GI pain were also represented. At 10 weeks, 65% of the patients showed a reduction of greater than or equal to 33% in the mean total Pain Rating Index (Melzack) and 50% showed a reduction of greater than or equal to 50%. Similar decreases were recorded on other pain indices and in the number of medical symptoms reported. Large and significant reductions in mood disturbance and psychiatric symptomatology accompanied these changes and were relatively stable on follow-up. These improvements were independent of the pain category. We conclude that this form of meditation can be used as the basis for an effective behavioral program in self-regulation for chronic pain patients. Key features of the program structure, and the limitations of the present uncontrolled study are discussed.
Gen Hosp Psychiatry 1982 Apr
PMID:An outpatient program in behavioral medicine for chronic pain patients based on the practice of mindfulness meditation: theoretical considerations and preliminary results. 704 57

The major conclusion reached in a retrospective study conducted in England was that oral contraceptive users were no more likely than nonusers to experience either minor or more severe chest pains suggestive of embolic problems. Questionnaires were mailed to 550 oral contraceptive users and 550 age-matched controls who did not use oral contraceptives. Participants were selected from the registers of a general practitioner in the industrial town of Derbyshire or of a general practitioner who served a middle class suburban population in Nottingham. The questionnaires were mailed to the women by their doctor and the women were unaware of the purpose of the study. They were asked a series of questions including whether or not they used oral contraceptives and if they ever experienced chest pains. Questionnaires were returned by 489 oral contraceptive users and by 289 of the controls. Those who reported chest pains were sent an additional questionnaire to elicit more specific information on chest pain episodes. Their responses were converted to a 12 point severity scale and those who scored 8 or more on the scales were identified as experiencing chest pains of an embolic nature. Among all those who returned the initial questionnaire, 6.3% of the pill users and 9% of the controls said they had experienced chest pains. Among those who reported chest pains, 46% of the pill users and 43% of the controls had high severity scores. These differences were not significant. These findings suggest that at the present time there is no reason to alter oral contraceptive prescribing practices nor any need to undertake a large scale prospective study of the relationship between chest pain and oral contraceptive use.
J R Coll Gen Pract 1980 Jan
PMID:Chest pain among oral contraceptive users. 737 75

The failure of the results of many research studies to be integrated into everyday clinical practice is both well documented and much decried. In the writings on why medical research and clinical practice have remained separate cultures, two issues have not been sufficiently debated. First, are medical researchers addressing the problems that cause clinicians the most concern in their consultations with patients, and secondly, are the results of research studies being presented in a manner that clinicians can both understand and use? This discussion paper highlights primary care clinicians' urgent need for information on the predictive value of the symptoms and signs seen in everyday clinical practice. Medical research has still to provide this information, often leaving general practitioners with inadequate predictive information on which to make early diagnoses, for example, on whether a patient with chest pain has a pulmonary embolus, or a child with pyrexia and rash has meningococcal septicaemia. The format in which research information is commonly presented is discussed; it has been shown that epidemiological terms used in studies are impenetrable to most clinicians. Additional ways of framing research information need to be devised that present such research information in a narrative format and numerical format, emphasizing the effects of management decisions as well as diagnostic categories, and for use in individual consultations as well as describing populations. Only then will clinicians be able to integrate into their everyday clinical practice the potentially valuable information provided by medical research.
Br J Gen Pract 1995 Oct
PMID:Clinical practice and medical research: bridging the divide between the two cultures. 885 28


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