Study design
The primary aim was to estimate the proportion of the observational group in the 1-h hs-cTnT algorithm. A high prevalence of the observational group may indicate that it has low feasibility in an often-crowded Thai ED setting. We recruited a 1-h hs-cTnT algorithm or post-implementation group prospectively for the primary aim.
The secondary aim was to compare the rule-in/out times between the 3 and 1-h hs-cTnT algorithms. We recruited a historical control or pre-implementation group that used the 3-h hs-cTnT algorithm retrospectively for the secondary aim. We assumed that ED crowding may be a confounding variable of time to rule-in/out. The variability of ED crowding in Siriraj Hospital usually depends on time of ED arrival. Therefore, the pre- and post-implementation groups were matched on time of the day and day of the week of presentation. Patients were divided into three groups based on their time of arrival: daytime of working day (8 am–8 pm, Monday to Friday), nighttime of working day (8 pm–8 am, Monday to Friday), and weekends or national public holidays.
Setting
The study was conducted at the ED of Siriraj Hospital, Mahidol University, Bangkok, Thailand. The hospital is the largest tertiary and university hospital in Thailand with over 20,000 ED visits per year. The study was approved by the Siriraj Institutional Review Board (certificate of approval Si 328/2017). Informed consent was waived because the 1-h hs-cTnT algorithm was already validated, and the study did not affect rights, diagnostic adjustment, or clinical intervention of the patients.
Participants
Eligibility criteria
Participants were included if they were over 18 years of age and presented to the ED with chest pain or other symptoms suggestive of AMI with the onset in a duration of 1–12 h prior to presentation. Participants were excluded if they had ST elevation on electrocardiogram (ECG), had undergone defibrillation or cardioversion in their visit to the ED, had undergone coronary artery bypass grafting within the last month, and had been diagnosed as AMI within the last 3 weeks. Patients were also excluded if they had stage V chronic kidney disease, had end-stage renal disease, were pregnant, or were breastfeeding.
Recruitment of the post-implementation group
All patients meeting the inclusion criteria were recruited prospectively and consecutively between 22 June and 12 September 2017. Investigations and treatments were given according to standard clinical practice guidelines. The 1-h hs-cTnT algorithm was conducted as shown in Fig. 1. After the patients were classified, they were managed according to their classification. Patients in the rule-out group were discharged if there were no other clinical problems. Patients in the rule-in group were treated as NSTEMI unless proven otherwise. The observational group had to wait for an additional hs-cTnT test at 3 h. Patients in this group were then classified as rule-in/out according to the 3-h hs-cTnT algorithm. Data were collected by medical record review after the patients were discharged.
Recruitment of the pre-implementation group
For this historical control group, medical records of patients presenting to the ED with chest pain or other symptoms suggestive of AMI with NSTE-ACS as the provisional diagnosis or a differential diagnosis from 8 January to 30 March 2017 were reviewed consecutively. We started with records on March 2017 and continued backwards in time until the quota of the comparable number of patients in each time of arrival interval was reached. In this group, the 3-h hs-cTnT algorithm was used to classify the patients. Investigations and management were also given according to standard clinical practice guidelines.
Data collection
We collected the baseline patient demographics, the time of ED arrival, the time of first blood drawing, the troponin test results, the time of receiving the specimen at the laboratory, and the time of reporting results. The time of patient discharged from the ED, the patient disposition at discharge, and the medications for acute coronary syndrome (ACS) received by the patient were also collected. Major adverse cardiac events (MACE), defined as composite events of all-cause mortality, AMI, percutaneous or surgical revascularization, and significant stenosis on coronary angiography that occurred within 30 days of ED arrival, was also documented. Furthermore, the number of patients in the ED at the time that the patients arrived was recorded. This information was for the evaluation of the effect of ED crowding.
Blood sample collection and laboratory diagnostic testing
At Siriraj Hospital, the blood specimens were sent to the central laboratory unit (ISO 15189 approved laboratory) using messengers. Samples in both groups were assayed using Elecsys 2010 solution in Cobas 8000 machine (Roche Diagnostics, Rotkreuz, Switzerland).
Outcome measurements
Classification by the 1-h and 3-h hs-cTnT algorithms
According to either the 1- or 3-h hs-cTnT algorithm, the patients’ category (rule-in, rule-out, or observational group) after laboratory interpretation was recorded. In the observational group, the final category using the 3-h hs-cTnT result was recorded.
Proportion in the observational group using the 1-h hs-cTnT algorithm
This was the primary aim. The proportion was deemed acceptable if it was not more than that of the previous trials (22–24%) [12,13,14,15,16,17].
Average change in time to rule-in/out between the pre- and post-implementation groups
This was the secondary aim. We calculated time intervals. The rule-in/out time was defined as the time of first blood drawing to the time of the last laboratory result reporting. Laboratory transport time was defined as the time taken to bring the specimen to the laboratory. Laboratory processing time was defined as the time the laboratory took to analyze and interpret the results.
Sample size calculation
For the primary aim, a previous pilot study in Siriraj Hospital investigated 10 patients using the 1-h hs-cTnT algorithm, and the proportion of the observational group was 0.4 (40%). With a proportion of 0.4 (95% CI 0.28–0.52), a sample of 65 was required. For the secondary aim, a pilot study investigated 10 patients using the 3-h hs-cTnT algorithm (group 1) and 10 patients using the 1-h hs-cTnT algorithm (group 2). The mean difference in time to rule-in/out was about 80 min with an SD in group 1 of 65 min and in group 2 of 30 min. A difference in mean time of 60 min was considered clinically important by the consensus of the authors. Using a two-sided type I error of 0.01 and 90% power, we calculated a sample of 25 per group. To answer primary and secondary aims, a sample size of 65 patients per group was required. nQuery Advisor (Cork, Ireland) was used to calculate the sample size.
Statistical analysis
Data were reported using descriptive statistics and compared by chi-square and two-sample t tests as appropriate. Data with parametric distribution were reported as mean (SD). Data with nonparametric distribution were reported as median (IQR) and were compared by Mann-Whitney U test. Frequency was reported as number (%).
The proportion of observational group in the post-implementation group was reported with 95% CI. A two-sample t test was used to compare time to rule-in/out of AMI and other time intervals between the two groups. One-way ANOVA analysis was used to measure differences between subgroups. Multivariable linear regression was used to analyze factors influencing the secondary outcomes. Multivariable logistic regression was also used for triage type. Predictors were chosen by forward stepwise and backward stepwise selection. The variables examined included age, gender, onset of chest pain, current use of beta-blocker, nitrate, diuretic, ED prescription of aspirin, anticoagulant, nitroglycerin, intravenous furosemide, and oxygen treatment. All analyses used SPSS version 18 (SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL).