Table 1.
Characteristics | 1213 females (55.3%) | 979 males (44.7%) | ||
ACS, n=101 (8.3%) | No ACS, n=1112 (91.7%) | ACS, n=150 (15.3%) | No ACS, n=829 (84.7%) | |
Patient characteristics | ||||
Mean age in years (SD) (n=2192) | 73.8 (13.5) | 58.0 (20.2) | 67.0 (12.6) | 57.2 (19.2) |
Call characteristics | ||||
Median call duration in min (IQR) (n=2192) | 5:27 (3:57–8:24) | 6:59 (5:06–9:47) | 6:04 (4:03–8:17) | 6:56 (5:10–9:23) |
Mean introduction time in min (IQR) (n=2192) | 0:13 (0:09–0:18) | 0:17 (0:11–0:26) | 0:14 (0:09–0:21) | 0:17 (0:11–0:25) |
Call during the night (00:00–09:00) (n=2192) | 34 (33.7) | 304 (27.3) | 62 (41.3) | 188 (22.7) |
Triage nurse consulted the GP (n=2192) | 43 (42.6) | 580 (52.2) | 75 (50.0) | 449 (54.2) |
Someone else called on behalf of patient (n=2192) | 69 (68.3) | 515 (46.3) | 98 (65.3) | 432 (52.1) |
The person who calls expressed concerns (n=988) | 42 (95.5) | 507 (90.5) | 61 (96.8) | 378 (87.1) |
Medical history and risk factors | ||||
Cardiovascular disease or CV risk factors (n=1844) | 70 (81.4) | 552 (61.1) | 106 (78.5) | 464 (64.4) |
History of coronary artery disease (n=1151) | 23 (47.9) | 131 (24.2) | 54 (56.3) | 181 (38.8) |
Diabetes (n=893) | 14 (42.4) | 66 (14.3) | 22 (39.3) | 78 (22.0) |
Hypertension (n=894) | 26 (72.2) | 162 (34.0) | 22 (51.2) | 113 (33.3) |
Hypercholesterolaemia/statin use (n=826) | 10 (40.0) | 96 (22.6) | 27 (50.0) | 79 (24.5) |
Cardiac arrhythmia (n=905) | 4 (14.8) | 125 (26.2) | 12 (25.0) | 89 (25.2) |
Symptoms | ||||
Chest pain (n=2116) | 95 (96.9) | 1007 (94.1) | 139 (93.3) | 758 (94.9) |
Shortness of breath (n=1696) | 57 (71.3) | 559 (65.4) | 63 (61.2) | 415 (63.1) |
Chest pain duration <12 hours (n=1910) | 74 (86.0) | 703 (72.3) | 113 (82.5) | 510 (71.3) |
Severe pain (Numeric Rating Scale>7, range 1–10) (n=917) | 19 (61.3) | 184 (39.6) | 18 (25.4) | 116 (33.0) |
Pressing/heavy chest pain* (n=1625) | 58 (81.7) | 525 (62.5) | 95 (81.2) | 345 (57.7) |
Stabbing chest pain* (n=1625) | 8 (11.3) | 190 (22.6) | 9 (7.7) | 159 (26.6) |
Retrosternal chest pain † (n=1565) | 36 (54.5) | 326 (40.0) | 52 (53.1) | 227 (38.7) |
Chest pain left or right of thorax† (n=1566) | 19 (28.8) | 318 (39.0) | 28 (28.6) | 262 (44.6) |
Radiation of chest pain to any location (n=1678) | 74 (86.0) | 575 (67.8) | 83 (65.4) | 347 (56.2) |
Radiation to the arm‡ (n=1677) | 37 (43.0) | 218 (25.7) | 54 (42.5) | 143 (23.2) |
Radiation to the shoulder blades‡ (n=1678) | 14 (16.3) | 190 (22.4) | 19 (15.0) | 103 (16.7) |
Radiation to the jaws‡ (n=1678) | 10 (11.6) | 77 (9.1) | 4 (3.1) | 33 (5.3) |
Sweating (n=1366) | 36 (52.9) | 279 (42.0) | 54 (51.9) | 190 (35.8) |
Nausea or vomiting (n=987) | 24 (52.2) | 295 (56.6) | 31 (43.1) | 139 (39.9) |
Pallor or ashen skin (n=673) | 22 (59.5) | 139 (44.3) | 36 (64.3) | 125 (46.8) |
(Near) fainting (n=1951) | 8 (9.5) | 76 (7.7) | 9 (6.7) | 50 (6.7) |
Palpitations (n=162) | 10 (100.0) | 183 (84.7) | 8 (50.0) | 83 (75.5) |
Patient recognises symptoms from previous cardiac event (n=915) | 17 (35.4) | 100 (22.0) | 30 (46.9) | 103 (29.5) |
Urgency allocation | ||||
High urgency (U1 or U2) (n=2192) | 89 (88.1) | 740 (66.5) | 133 (88.7) | 534 (64.4) |
U1 | 75 (74.3) | 443 (39.8) | 106 (70.7) | 350 (42.2) |
U2 | 14 (13.9) | 297 (26.7) | 27 (18.0) | 184 (22.2) |
Low urgency (U3 or U4 or U5) | 12 (11.9) | 372 (33.5) | 17 (11.3) | 295 (35.6) |
*Pain described by patient. Pressing heavy pain: pressing, heavy or tightening pain vs other types of pain (stabbing, burning, cramping, tearing). Stabbing pain: stabbing versus other types of pain (pressing, heavy, tightening, burning, cramping).
†Retrosternal location versus other pain locations. Left or right side of the thorax versus other pain locations.
‡Radiation location versus no radiation and radiation other pain.
ACS, acute coronary syndrome; CV, cardiovascular; GP, general practitioner; OHS-PC, out-of-hours services for primary care.