Table 2.

Diagnosis of 1795 patients who contacted the out-of-hours primary care for chest discomfort (pain, pressure, tightness or discomfort), divided in women and men

	Women n=993 (55.3%)	Men n=802 (44.7%)	P value
ACS	85 (8.6)	120 (15.0)	<0.001
ST-elevated myocardial infarction	16 (18.8)	39 (32.5)	0.037
Non-ST-elevated myocardial infarction	41 (48.2)	44 (36.7)	0.114
Unstable angina pectoris	17 (20.0)	33 (27.5)	0.250
Non-classified ACS	11 (13.0)	4 (3.3)	0.013
Life-threatening events	22 (2.2)	23 (2.9)	0.448
Pulmonary embolism	6 (27.3)	7 (30.4)	0.815
Thoracic aortic dissection	4 (18.2)	2 (8.7)	0.349
Acute abdominal aneurysm	3 (13.6)	2 (8.7)	0.598
Other*	9 (40.9)	12 (52.2)	0.449
Non-urgent cardiovascular diseases†	194 (19.5)	170 (21.2)	0.384
Non-cardiac chest pain, not further specified‡	163 (16.4)	159 (19.8)	0.061
Musculoskeletal pain	199 (20.0)	113 (14.1)	0.001
Psychogenic disorders	139 (14.0)	67 (8.4)	<0.001
Gastrointestinal tract disorders	76 (7.7)	62 (7.7)	0.951
Respiratory tract disorders	52 (5.2)	45 (5.6)	0.727
Other non-urgent diagnoses§	63 (6.3)	43 (5.4)	0.380

*Acute heart failure, stroke, severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease exacerbation, sepsis, coronary spasm probably caused by hypokalaemia, diabetic ketoacidosis, epileptic insult, bleeding from oesophageal varices, ovarian torsion and ventricular fibrillation.

†Stable angina pectoris (including atypical chest pain), stable heart failure, arrhythmias and hypertension.

‡Cardiac pathology unlikely after cardiologist’s diagnostic work-up, but without differential diagnosis.

§Among others: anaemia, malignancy, vasovagal collapse, side effects medication and dermatological diseases.

ACS, acute coronary syndrome.