PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Ahmad A Aalam
AU  - Awad Alsabban
AU  - Jesse M Pines
TI  - National trends in chest pain visits in US emergency departments (2006–2016)
AID  - 10.1136/emermed-2020-210306
DP  - 2020 Nov 01
TA  - Emergency Medicine Journal
PG  - 696--699
VI  - 37
IP  - 11
4099  - http://emj.bmj.com/content/37/11/696.short
4100  - http://emj.bmj.com/content/37/11/696.full
SO  - Emerg Med J2020 Nov 01; 37
AB  - Background Chest pain is a common complaint in EDs. In this study, we describe demographic, care and cost trends in US ED visits for chest pain over 11 years.Methods This is a retrospective descriptive study of trends in utilisation and care of ED chest pain visits from 2006 to 2016) using data from the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project database, a national sample of US ED visits and hospitalisations.Results From 2006 to 2016, there were 42.48 million chest pain visits. Visits per 100 000 persons increased from 1140.4 in 2006 to 1611.7 in 2016 (p<0.001). The chest pain inpatient admission rate declined from 19% in 2006 to 3.9% in 2016 (p<0.001); associated inpatient hospitalisation costs declined from $10.4 billion (2006–2008) to $6.2 billion (2012–2014).Conclusion From 2006 to 2016, ED visits in the USA for chest pain increased with a significant decline in admission rates and inpatient hospitalisation costs.