Presenting characteristics of patients undergoing cardiac troponin measurements in the emergency department

Introduction: Not all patients with suspected acute coronary syndrome (ACS) receiving cardiac troponin (cTn) testing present to the emergency department (ED) with cardiac chest pain. Since elderly patients (age >= 70) have increased morbidity and mortality associated with ACS, complaints other than cardiac chest pain may justify cTn testing. Our primary objective was to characterize the population of ED patients who receive cTn testing. The secondary objective was to determine if elderly patients underwent cTn testing for different presenting complaints than their younger counterparts. Methods: We created an electronic database including Canadian Emergency Department Information Systems (CEDIS) presenting complaints, age, sex, disposition, and Canadian Triage Acuity Scale (CTAS) score, for patients who received cTn testing in three Canadian EDs during 2011. We analyzed the data for patient characteristics and sorted by age (< 70 and >= 70) for further analysis. Results: In the 15,824 included patients, the average age was 66 (51%, 70; 51% female). The most common presenting complaints were cardiac chest pain (n = 3,267) and shortness of breath (n = 2,266). The elderly underwent cTn testing for significantly (p < 0.0001) different complaints than their younger counterparts. They more commonly presented with generalized weakness (n = 898), whereas younger patients more frequently had abdominal pain (n = 576). Conclusions: Cardiac chest pain and shortness of breath are presenting complaints in one-third of patients undergoing ED cTn testing. The majority of patients undergoing cTn testing did not have typical ACS symptoms. Half of all cTn testing in the ED is on the elderly, who present with different complaints than their younger counterparts.