To examine sex differences pertaining to pain characteristics in patients presenting to the ambulatory emergency department (ED) with nontraumatic chest pain and to the prediction of exercise-induced ischemia on a follow-up electrocardiogram.
This was a prospective study of 131 women and 202 men (mean age 58 years) consulting the ED with a chief complaint of chest pain. Seventy-eight women and 116 men underwent exercise stress testing following the ED consultation. Chest pain location, extension, intensity and quality were measured. Chest pain was classified as nonspecific, or typical or atypical of angina.
Women received fewer 'typical' angina pain diagnoses (P