Table 1

Baseline clinical characteristics, efficacy and safety of patients with suspected acute coronary syndrome before and after implementation of early rule-out pathway

Both groupsStandard care groupIntervention group
All patients<5 ng/L5–14 ng/L>14 ng/LAll patients<5 ng/L5–14 ng/L>14 ng/L
(n=10 315)(n=6642)(n=2188)(n=1885)(n=2569)(n=3673)(n=945)(n=1380)(n=1348)
 Age (mean)63.57 (16.4)63.77 (16.3)50.31 (12.6)65.25 (12.8)74.14 (13.1)63.20 (16.4)48.04 (12.1)63.02 (13.4)74.01 (13.1)
 Sex (male), n (%)5571 (54.0%)3628 (54.6%)994 (45.4%)1121 (59.5%)1513 (58.9%)1943 (52.9%)368 (38.9%)804 (58.3%)771 (57.2%)
Medical history
 Myocardial infarction, n (%)660 (6.4%)507 (7.6%)70 (3.2%)151 (8.0%)286 (11.1%)153 (4.2%)12 (1.3%)64 (4.6%)77 (5.7%)
 Diabetes mellitus, n (%)1823 (17.7%)1177 (17.7%)154 (7.0%)345 (18.3%)678 (26.4%)646 (17.6%)70 (7.4%)218 (15.8%)358 (26.6%)
 Heart failure, n (%)432 (4.2%)315 (4.7%)9 (0.4%)36 (1.9%)270 (10.5%)117 (3.2%)2 (0.2%)16 (1.2%)99 (7.3%)
Medication at presentation
 Antiplatelets, n (%)3387 (32.8%)2311 (34.8%)346 (15.8%)718 (38.1%)1247 (48.5%)1076 (29.3%)86 (9.1%)439 (31.8%)551 (40.9%)
 ACE inhibitor or ARB, n (%)3192 (30.9%)2095 (31.5%)376 (17.2%)692 (36.7%)1027 (40.0%)1097 (29.9%)127 (13.4%)484 (35.1%)486 (36.1%)
 Beta-blocker, n (%)2723 (26.4%)1810 (27.3%)330 (15.1%)560 (29.7%)920 (35.8%)913 (24.9%)124 (13.1%)355 (25.7%)434 (32.2%)
 Lipid-lowering therapy, n (%)3931 (38.1%)2623 (39.5%)442 (20.2%)854 (45.3%)1327 (51.7%)1308 (35.6%)138 (14.6%)549 (39.8%)621 (46.1%)
 Diuretic therapy, n (%)1504 (14.6%)1018 (15.3%)59 (2.7%)181 (9.6%)778 (30.3%)486 (13.2%)22 (2.3%)111 (8.0%)353 (26.2%)
Laboratory results
 Creatinine (µmol/L) (SD)93 (53)94 (53)75 (15)85 (22)116 (76)92 (55)73 (18)83 (25)113 (81)
Efficacy
 Duration of stay (minutes)469 (220–2148)534 (220–2279)236 (180–484)421 (215–1214)2259 (665–6054)390 (218–1190)219 (170–329)311 (215–838)2567 (679–6191)
 Four-hour discharge (yes)*3431 (33.5%)2150 (32.4%)1149 (52.5%)661 (35.1%)340 (13.2%)1281 (34.9%)604 (63.9%)512 (37.1%)165 (12.2%)
All-cause death (%)
 At 1 year1102 (10.7%)721 (10.9%)17 (0.8%)73 (3.9%)631 (24.6%)381 (10.4%)4 (0.4%)48 (3.5%)329 (24.4%)
 At 30 days386 (3.7%)245 (3.7%)1 (0.0%)14 (0.7%)230 (9.0%)141 (3.8%)1 (0.1%)12 (0.9%)128 (9.5%)
Cardiovascular death
 At 1 year568 (5.5%)364 (5.5%)4 (0.2%)20 (1.1%)340 (13.3%)204 (5.6%)1 (0.1%)17 (1.2%)186 (13.8%)
 At 30 days221 (2.1%)139 (2.1%)1 (0.0%)4 (0.2%)134 (5.2%)82 (2.2%)1 (0.1%)8 (0.6%)73 (5.4%)
  • Continuous variables are presented as mean (SD) or median (IQR). Categorical variables are presented as n (%).

  • *Sixty-eight patients with missing data (45 patients from standard group and 23 patients from intervention group).

  • ARB, angiotensin receptor blocker.