The costs of emergency chest pain

Reported by Susan Aldridge, PhD, medical journalist

Chest pain accounts for almost three quarters of a million emergency room visits in England and Wales, which is more than previous estimates.
If you have chest pain, clearly you need medical attention in case it is a heart attack. A study from the University of Sheffield, England, now assesses how much emergency care is devoted to chest pain.

Around 15 million people in England and Wales go to the emergency department each year and it's been thought that around 2.5 per cent of these cases are because of chest pain. In fact, the researchers' analysis of those who attended the emergency department of the Northern General Hospital in Sheffield suggests the real figure is actually nearer to six per cent.

Specialist nurses categorized the cases into cases of heart problems, life-threatening lung problems, little risk of heart disease and other issues. Chest pain accounted for one in four of admissions. Yet only a minority of these actually had serious heart problems. The findings show that only a minority of cases of chest pain are due to a heart attack. But this symptom should, of course, never be ignored.

Source
Heart January 2005 Volume 91 pages 229-230