Early health technology assessment of future clinical decision rule aided triage of patients presenting with acute chest pain in primary care

Cost-effectiveness of a rule-out algorithm of acute myocardial infarction in low-risk patients: emergency primary care versus hospital setting

Aims

Hospital admissions of patients with chest pain considered as low risk for acute coronary syndrome contribute to increased costs and crowding in the emergency departments. This study aims to estimate the cost-effectiveness of assessing these patients in a primary care emergency setting, using the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) 0/1-h algorithm for high-sensitivity cardiac troponin T, compared to routine hospital management.

Methods

A cost-effectiveness analysis was conducted. For the primary care estimates, costs and health care expenditure from the observational OUT-ACS (One-hoUr Troponin in a low-prevalence population of Acute Coronary Syndrome) study were compared with anonymous extracted administrative data on low-risk patients at a large general hospital in Norway. Patients discharged home after the hs-cTnT assessment were defined as low risk in the primary care cohort. In the hospital setting, the low-risk group comprised patients discharged with a non-specific chest pain diagnosis (ICD-10 codes R07.4 and Z03.5). Loss of health related to a potential increase in acute myocardial infarctions the following 30-days was estimated. The primary outcome measure was the costs per quality-adjusted life year (QALY) of applying the ESC 0/1-h algorithm in primary care. The secondary outcomes were health care costs and length of stay in the two settings.

Results

Differences in costs comprise personnel and laboratory costs of applying the algorithm at primary care level (€192) and expenses related to ambulance transports and complete hospital costs for low-risk patients admitted to hospital (€1986). Additional diagnostic procedures were performed in 31.9% (181/567) of the low-risk hospital cohort. The estimated reduction in health care cost when using the 0/1-h algorithm outside of hospital was €1794 per low-risk patient, with a mean decrease in length of stay of 18.9 h. These numbers result in an average per-person QALY gain of 0.0005. Increased QALY and decreased costs indicate that the primary care approach is clearly cost-effective.

Conclusion

Using the ESC 0/1-h algorithm in low-risk patients in emergency primary care appears to be cost-effective compared to standard hospital management, with an extensive reduction in costs and length of stay per patient.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12913-022-08697-6.

Evaluating possible acute coronary syndrome in primary care: the value of signs, symptoms, and plasma heart-type fatty acid-binding protein (H-FABP). A diagnostic study

Background

Additional diagnostic means could be of added value when evaluating possible acute coronary syndrome (ACS) in primary care.

Aim

To determine whether heart-type fatty acid-binding protein (H-FABP)-based point-of-care (POC) biomarker testing, embedded in a clinical decision rule (CDR), is helpful to the GP when evaluating possible ACS.

Design & setting

A prospective, non-randomised, double-blinded, diagnostic derivation study was undertaken, with a delayed-type cross-sectional diagnostic model among GPs in the Netherlands and Belgium.

Method

Signs and symptoms predicting acute myocardial infarction (AMI) or ACS were identified using both logistic regression analysis, and classification and regression trees (CART). Diagnostic values of the POC H-FABP test (cut-off value 4 ng/ml) alone and as part of a CDR were determined.

Results

A total of 303 participants (48.8% male) with chest pain or discomfort who had consulted a GP were enrolled. ACS was found in 32 (10.6%) of these 303 patients. For ACS, sensitivity and negative predictive value (NPV) of the POC H-FABP test was 25.8% (95% confidence interval [CI] = 12.5 to 44.9) and 91.6% (95% CI = 87.6% to 94.5%), respectively. The area under the receiver operating curve of the optimal CDR was 0.78 for ACS.

Conclusion

Sensitivity of the current H-FABP POC test (cut-off value 4 ng/ml) as a stand-alone test is poor, either owing to limitations of the marker or of the test device. Usability of a CDR derived from these results is doubtful: the number of ACS cases missed by the GP is reduced but, as a consequence, disproportionally more ACS-negative patients are referred.