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Paul E. Bogden, MD; Irwin J. Schatz, MD

JAMA. 1985;253(3):400.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text PDF and any section headings.

If necessity is the mother of invention, then limitation of national health care expenditures should inspire creative new approaches in search of less costly health care. In the January issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine, Lee and colleagues¹ address the timely question of how to identify those patients with acute chest pain who are at low risk for coronary obstructive disease. The need for such a study is clear—1 1/2 million people are admitted to coronary care units every year for suspected ischemic heart disease, and in most of these, myocardial infarction is eventually ruled out.^3-5 It is important to identify such patients earlier, with great accuracy and as economically as possible.

Dr Lee and colleagues employ the time-honored method of retrospective analysis of an existing clinical data base to identify these individuals. They emphasize that no single variable could identify low-risk patients as well as a normal . . . [Full Text PDF of this Article]

Author Affiliations
University of Hawaii John A. Burns School of Medicine Honolulu

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