Objectives To assess whether the Marburg Heart Score (MHS) and INTERCHEST score may improve telephone triage of chest pain by providing better diagnostic discrimination compared with the triage protocol from the Netherlands Triage Standard (NTS). Design Prospective diagnostic accuracy study.
Setting Large regional out-of-hours primary care (OOH-PC) facility in Alkmaar, the Netherlands. Participants A total of 1254 eligible patients contacted the OOH-PC facility (median age 56.0 years, 57.9% female) between December 2022 and May 2023.
The study was completed and verbal informed consent obtained in 280 (22.3%) patients. Interventions Triage assistants asked study questions in addition to the NTS protocol to complete the MHS and INTERCHEST score.
Primary and secondary outcome measures Discrimination (C-statistics) and diagnostic test properties (eg, sensitivity/specificity) were used; the reference standard was the occurrence of a major event (ie, composite of all-cause mortality, and urgent cardiovascular and non-cardiovascular conditions) or acute coronary syndrome (ACS) within 6 weeks. Results A major event occurred in 36 patients (12.9%), including 13 (4.6%) ACS cases.
BMJ Open published a clinical update in Research Highlights on 07 Apr 2026.
The item focuses on Marburg Heart Score and INTERCHEST score for telephone triage of acute chest pain: a prospective, diagnostic accuracy study in out-of-hours primary care.
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