Calvin and his fellow Rush researchers found that information easily obtained from patients or their families can accurately predict complications such as heart attack, heart failure or death that can follow severe chest pain. The variables are heart attack within two weeks before the angina attack, abnormal echocardiogram, use of beta blockers, prolonged chest pain, age and diabetes. Using a model developed at Rush for predicting risk of major complications, the researchers followed almost 500 Rush patients and found that the model is a useful method for early management of what the pain may signify. What happened to those 500 patients matched quite closely the statistics predicted in the researchers' previous study. High-risk patients can be identified quickly and scheduled from the very beginning for any invasive therapy they may need.
Costs come down.
Complications are avoided. For physicians, Calvin adds, the model supports decision-making, gives them a better idea of the degree of sickness patients are experiencing and takes away uncertainty about how to proceed.