Self-referral to chest pain units: results of the German CPU-registry

Chest pain units (CPUs) are increasingly established in emergency cardiology services. With improved visibility of CPUs in the population, patients may refer themselves directly to these units, obviating emergency medical services (EMS). Little is known about characteristics and outcomes of self-referred patients, as compared with those referred by EMS. Therefore, we described self-referral patients enrolled in the CPU-registry of the German Cardiac Society and compared them with those referred by EMS.

From 2008 until 2010, the prospective CPU-registry enrolled 11,581 consecutive patients. Of those 3789 (32.7%) were self-referrals (SRs), while 7792 (67.3%) were referred by EMS. SR-patients were significantly younger (63.6 vs. 70.1 years), had less prior myocardial infarction or coronary artery bypass surgery, but more previous percutaneous coronary interventions (PCIs). Acute coronary syndromes were diagnosed less frequently in the SR-patients (30.3 vs. 46.9%; p<0.0001). SR-patients showed ST-segment changes in their initial ECG in 19.6% of cases. EMS-patients underwent more coronary angiographies (60.0 vs. 47.5%; p<0.0001), while SR-patients underwent more stress tests (11.3 vs. 7.8%; p<0.001). PCI was performed in 32.6% of the EMS- and in 24.0% of the SR-group (p<0.0001).

These data demonstrate that patients who contact a CPU as a self-referral are younger, less severely ill and have more non-coronary problems than those calling an emergency medical service. Nevertheless, 30% of self-referral patients had an acute coronary syndrome.