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Clinical Risk Assessment in Women

Chest Discomfort. Report from the WISE Study

  • Chapter
Coronary Disease in Women

Part of the book series: Contemporary Cardiology ((CONCARD))

Abstract

Chest pain is one of the most common complaints encountered by the emergency physician. Each year, 5.3 million patients appear at US emergency rooms with chest pain (1). More than half of these patients are women (2). The chief clinical concern in evaluation is the possibility of acute coronary syndrome (ACS) and the need to provide quick and appropriate therapy to reduce the risk of death and serious complications (3). Often, coronary angiography and other objective testing is performed only after clinical history, including chest pain evaluation, reveals a reasonable likelihood that a patient might suffer from ACS. For women, such a likelihood is more difficult to assess than in men. This chapter addresses the issues in using chest pain assessment as part of a coronary artery disease (CAD) diagnostic work-up in women. The first part summarizes the available literature. In the second part, the widely used Coronary Artery Surgery Study (CASS) symptom classification is tested in a pilot group of Women’s Ischemia Syndrome Evaluation (WISE) study participants to provide preliminary evidence toward the development of a female pattern angina classification.

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Authors
  1. B. Delia Johnson PhD
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  2. Sheryl E. Kelsey PhD
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  3. C. Noel Bairey Merz MD
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Outcomes Research, American Cardiovascular Research Institute, Atlanta, GA, USA

    Leslee J. Shaw PhD

  2. Division of Cardiology, University of California School of Medicine, San Francisco, CA, USA

    Rita F. Redberg MD, FACC

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Johnson, B.D., Kelsey, S.E., Merz, C.N.B. (2004). Clinical Risk Assessment in Women. In: Shaw, L.J., Redberg, R.F. (eds) Coronary Disease in Women. Contemporary Cardiology. Humana Press, Totowa, NJ. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-59259-645-4_10

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-59259-645-4_10

  • Publisher Name: Humana Press, Totowa, NJ

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-61737-275-9

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