(November 13, 2008 - Insidermedicine) Adding electrocardiogram (ECG) testing to a full clinical assessment does little to improve the ability to predict coronary events among those with suspected angina, according to research in the British Medical Journal.

Here is some information about ECG:

·  They are a measure of the electrical activity of each heartbeat.
 
·  ECG is commonly given to patients with chest pain that is suspected to be angina.
 
·  ECGs can be conducted while the patient is at rest or exercising.

Researchers from the London Chest Hospital studied over 8,000 patients with no prior diagnosis of heart disease who were referred for assessment of suspected angina. All patients received a full clinical assessment and a resting ECG. About 60% of patients also underwent an exercise ECG.

After 2.5 years, nearly half of coronary events happened in those whose exercise ECG results did not indicate heart problems. Adding the results of the resting ECG to information from the clinical assessment did not improve the ability to predict who would have a coronary event, and adding exercise ECG results only improved the predictive ability slightly.

Today’s research highlights the limits of ECG testing to predict the risk for coronary events among those with suspected angina who have not received a diagnosis of heart disease.

For Insidermedicine in Depth, I'm Dr. Susan Sharma.