Table 2.
Outcomes after the first cardiology visit by age, sex and reason for referral.
| <65 years old | P value | ≥65 years old | P value | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Women, n (%) | Men, n (%) | Women, n (%) | Men, n (%) | |||
| ECG abnormalities | N = 208 | N = 360 | N = 248 | N = 207 | ||
| End of cardiology study. Discharge | 135 (65%) | 246 (68%) | 0.4 | 183 (74%) | 134 (65%) | 0.036* |
| Cardiology follow-up | 58 (28%) | 83 (23%) | 0.2 | 49 (20%) | 64 (31%) | 0.006* |
| Death during follow-up | 0 | 1 (0.3%) | >0.9 | 5 (2%) | 5 (2.4%) | >0.9 |
| ED visit | 94 (45%) | 120 (33%) | 0.005* | 138 (56%) | 117 (57%) | 0.9 |
| ≥2 ED visits | 39 (19%) | 61 (17%) | 0.6 | 77 (31%) | 66 (32%) | 0.8 |
| Hospital admission | 20 (9.6%) | 38 (11%) | 0.7 | 60 (24%) | 50 (24%) | >0.9 |
| Hospitalization in cardiology | 4 (1.9%) | 17 (4.7%) | 0.089 | 16 (6.5%) | 16 (7.7%) | 0.6 |
| ≥2 hospitalizations | 4 (1.9%) | 8 (2.2%) | >0.9 | 18 (7.3%) | 19 (9.2%) | 0.5 |
| Palpitations | N = 438 | N = 222 | N = 229 | N = 67 | ||
| End of cardiology study. Discharge | 215 (49%) | 103 (46%) | 0.5 | 123 (54%) | 35 (52%) | 0.8 |
| Cardiology follow-up | 188 (43%) | 100 (45%) | 0.6 | 87 (38%) | 27 (40%) | 0.7 |
| Death during follow-up | 0 | 0 | - | 5 (2.2%) | 2 (3%) | 0.7 |
| ED visit | 207 (47%) | 84 (38%) | 0.021* | 146 (64%) | 35 (52%) | 0.089 |
| ≥2 ED visits | 118 (27%) | 40 (18%) | 0.011* | 88 (38%) | 19 (28%) | 0.13 |
| Hospital admission | 63 (14%) | 25 (11%) | 0.3 | 54 (24%) | 26 (39%) | 0.014* |
| Hospitalization in cardiology | 20 (4.6%) | 13 (5.9%) | 0.5 | 17 (7.4%) | 9 (13%) | 0.13 |
| ≥2 hospitalizations | 13 (3%) | 9 (4.1%) | 0.5 | 22 (9.6%) | 12 (18%) | 0.061 |
| Dyspnea | N = 137 | N = 101 | N = 479 | N = 130 | ||
| End of cardiology study. Discharge | 77 (56%) | 44 (44%) | 0.054 | 255 (52%) | 66 (51%) | 0.6 |
| Cardiology follow-up | 50 (36%) | 50 (50%) | 0.044* | 189 (39%) | 51 (39%) | >0.9 |
| Death during follow-up | 0 | 0 | - | 13 (2.7%) | 11 (8.5%) | 0.003* |
| ED visit | 70 (51%) | 47 (47%) | 0.5 | 286 (60%) | 88 (68%) | 0.10 |
| ≥2 ED visits | 38 (28%) | 24 (24%) | 0.5 | 180 (38%) | 66 (51%) | 0.007* |
| Hospital admission | 14 (10%) | 20 (20%) | 0.037* | 161 (34%) | 59 (45%) | 0.013* |
| Hospitalization in cardiology | 4 (2.9%) | 9 (8.9%) | 0.044* | 41 (8.6%) | 17 (13%) | 0.12 |
| ≥2 hospitalizations | 4 (2.9%) | 6 (5.9%) | 0.3 | 45 (9.4%) | 28 (22%) | <0.001* |
| Chest pain | N = 286 | N = 295 | N = 292 | N = 170 | P | |
| End of cardiology study. Discharge | 134 (47%) | 134 (45%) | 0.7 | 100 (34%) | 57 (34%) | 0.9 |
| Cardiology follow-up | 131 (46%) | 137 (46%) | 0.9 | 168 (58%) | 94 (55%) | 0.6 |
| Death during follow-up | 0 | 0 | - | 8 (2.7%) | 8 (4.7%) | 0.3 |
| ED visit | 169 (59%) | 146 (49%) | 0.020* | 172 (59%) | 101 (59%) | >0.9 |
| ≥2 ED visits | 97 (34%) | 61 (21%) | <0.001* | 102 (35%) | 60 (35%) | >0.9 |
| Hospital admission | 42 (15%) | 55 (19%) | 0.2 | 68 (40%) | 68 (40%) | 0.007* |
| Hospitalization in cardiology | 15 (5.2%) | 36 (12%) | 0.003* | 36 (21%) | 36 (21%) | 0.028* |
| ≥2 hospitalizations | 8 (2.8%) | 21 (7.1%) | 0.017* | 23 (14%) | 23 (14%) | 0.2 |
| Heart murmur | N = 135 | N = 74 | N = 158 | N = 75 | ||
| End of cardiology study. Discharge | 93 (69%) | 41 (55%) | 0.052 | 90 (57%) | 32 (43%) | 0.041* |
| Cardiology follow-up | 30 (22%) | 26 (35%) | 0.044* | 61 (39%) | 41 (55%) | 0.021* |
| Death during follow-up | 1 (0.7%) | 0 | >0.9 | 3 (1.9%) | 3 (4%) | 0.4 |
| Consultation in the ED | 54 (40%) | 27 (36%) | 0.6 | 72 (46%) | 33 (44%) | 0.8 |
| ≥2 consultations in the ED | 34 (25%) | 15 (20%) | 0.4 | 38 (24%) | 17 (23%) | 0.8 |
| Hospital admission | 17 (13%) | 8 (11%) | 0.7 | 31 (20%) | 15 (20%) | >0.9 |
| Hospitalization in cardiology | 1 (0.7%) | 3 (4.1%) | 0.13 | 10 (6.3%) | 5 (6.7%) | >0.9 |
| ≥2 hospitalizations | 3 (2.2%) | 5 (6.8%) | 0.13 | 11 (7%) | 7 (9.3%) | 0.5 |
| Atrial fibrillation | N = 20 | N = 31 | N = 216 | N = 146 | ||
| End of cardiology study. Discharge | 14 (70%) | 14 (45%) | 0.082 | 130 (60%) | 94 (64%) | 0.4 |
| Cardiology follow-up | 5 (25%) | 14 (45%) | 0.15 | 67 (31%) | 47 (32%) | 0.8 |
| Death during follow-up | 0 | 1 (3.2) | >0.9 | 16 (7.4%) | 13 (8.9%) | 0.6 |
| ED visit | 14 (70%) | 18 (58%) | 0.4 | 145 (67%) | 79 (54%) | 0.012* |
| ≥2 ED visits | 5 (25%) | 10 (32%) | 0.6 | 97 (45%) | 47 (32%) | 0.015* |
| Hospital admission | 5 (25%) | 16 (52%) | 0.059 | 87 (40%) | 46 (32%) | 0.089 |
| Hospitalization in cardiology | 3 (15%) | 8 (26%) | 0.5 | 17 (7.9%) | 14 (9.6%) | 0.6 |
| ≥2 hospitalizations | 2 (10%) | 6 (19%) | 0.50 | 34 (16%) | 18 (12%) | 0.4 |
| Syncope | N = 152 | N = 140 | N = 169 | N = 152 | ||
| End of cardiology study. Discharge | 96 (63%) | 89 (64%) | >0.9 | 97 (57%) | 55 (36%) | <0.001* |
| Cardiology follow-up | 47 (31%) | 44 (31%) | >0.9 | 58 (34%) | 81 (53%) | <0.001* |
| Death during follow-up | 0 | 1 (0.7%) | 0.5 | 4 (2.4%) | 8 (5.3%) | 0.2 |
| ED visit | 76 (50%) | 54 (39%) | 0.050* | 108 (64%) | 94 (62%) | 0.7 |
| ≥2 ED visits | 44 (29%) | 25 (18%) | 0.026* | 67 (40%) | 57 (38%) | 0.7 |
| Hospital admission | 17 (11%) | 18 (13%) | 0.7 | 39 (23%) | 56 (37%) | 0.007* |
| Hospitalization in cardiology | 0 | 5 (3.6%) | 0.024* | 8 (4.7%) | 25 (16%) | <0.001* |
| ≥2 hospitalizations | 3 (2%) | 3 (2.1) | >0.9 | 11 (6.5%) | 23 (15%) | 0.012* |
| All patients | N = 1,560 | N = 1,403 | P | N = 1,962 | N = 1,049 | P |
| End of cardiology study. Discharge | 868 (56%) | 769 (55%) | 0.7 | 1,084 (55%) | 537 (51%) | 0.033* |
| Cardiology follow-up | 577 (37%) | 521 (37%) | >0.9 | 733 (37%) | 439 (42%) | 0.016* |
| Death during follow-up | 1 (<0.1%) | 3 (0.2%) | 0.4 | 64 (3.3%) | 63 (6%) | <0.001* |
| Consultation in the ED | 756 (48%) | 560 (40%) | <0.001* | 1,180 (60%) | 609 (58%) | 0.3 |
| ≥2 consultations in the ED | 409 (26%) | 265 (19%) | <0.001* | 716 (36%) | 367 (35%) | 0.4 |
| Hospital admission | 198 (13%) | 199 (14%) | 0.2 | 562 (29%) | 356 (34%) | 0.003* |
| Hospitalization in cardiology | 49 (3.1%) | 97 (6.9%) | <0.001* | 155 (7.9%) | 132 (13%) | <0.001* |
| ≥2 hospitalizations | 42 (2.7%) | 63 (4.5%) | 0.008* | 190 (9.7%) | 152 (14%) | <0.001* |
*Refers to statistical significance.
ED, emergency department.
Bold values refer to statistical significance.