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Article: Noncardiac chest pain: a rational approach to a common complaint: identifying noncardiac chest pain early and treating it effectively can relieve some of the enormous burden this complaint places on the health care system and the patient alike.(Medical condition overview)
- Article from:
- JAAPA-Journal of the American Academy of Physicians Assistants
- Article date:
- January 1, 2006
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2006 Haymarket Media, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Chest pain is significant not only because of the health problem it might indicate but also because of how much it costs the health care system and how greatly it affects the lives of patients. Most persons who are evaluated in a primary care setting will have a noncardiac cause of their symptoms. (1) Even so, the importance of ruling out possible cardiac pathology usually leads to expensive and complicated workups.
Incidence and prevalence
In the United States, the complaint of chest pain leads to more than 6 million hospital admissions and more than $8 billion in health care costs annually, (2) with cardiac causes found in only 20% of admissions. (3) ...