@article{MAKHILLRJMS20159311941, title = {Electrocardiogram and Chest Pain in Real Practice: A Retrospective Cohort Study in Family Practicein Portugal}, journal = {Research Journal of Medical Sciences}, volume = {9}, number = {3}, pages = {58-63}, year = {2015}, issn = {1815-9346}, doi = {rjmsci.2015.58.63}, url = {https://makhillpublications.co/view-article.php?issn=1815-9346&doi=rjmsci.2015.58.63}, author = {Paulo,Carlos,Paulo,Manuel,Luisa,Alberto,Altamiro Costa and}, keywords = {Chest pain,primary care,electrocardiography,physician’s practice patterns,disease management,health impact assessment}, abstract = {Electrocardiogram (ECG) plays a major role in the study of chest pain. To measure the impact of making an ECG in patients with Chest Pain (CP) in primary care. We conducted a retrospective cohort study of patients with CP that made an ECG in a primary care setting by comparison with those who made the ECG as a routine test in order to measure the change of cardiovascular clinical guidance up to 6 months after ECG. Cases were categorized in atypical or typical CP. Secondary a clinical practice analysis was performed, counting the number of medical visits 12 months before and after ECG. We studied 480 patients, consecutively selected during 4 years, 333 in CP group (286 with atypical CP) and 147 controls. Patients with typical CP presented higher changing in clinical guidance (RR = 4.299; 95% CI: 2.378-7.772, p<0.001) than patients with atypical CP (RR = 1.116; 95% CI: 1.008-1.235, p = 0.047) when compared with controls. In the routine group, there wasn’t any variation of visits counting as in the typical CP group but a reduction of 0.59 visits (95% CI: -0.90-0.29; p<0.001) occurred in the atypical CP patients 1 year after the ECG. Anxiety was significantly associated to atypical CP orientation.} }