Causes of chest pain in primary care--a systematic review and meta-analysis.

ABSTRACT:

Aim

To investigate the frequencies of different and relevant underlying etiologies of chest pain in general practice.

Methods

We systematically searched PubMed and EMBASE. Two reviewers independently rated the eligibility of publications and assessed the risk of bias of included studies. We extracted data to calculate the relative frequencies of different underlying conditions and investigated the variation across studies using forest plots, I(2), tau(2), and prediction intervals. With respect to unexplained heterogeneity, we provided qualitative syntheses instead of pooled estimates.

Results

We identified 11 eligible studies comprising about 6500 patients. The overall risk of bias was rated as low in 6 studies comprising about 3900 patients. The relative frequencies

SUBMITTER: Haasenritter J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4655927 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature