HEART Score

Used to risk stratify patients for further cardiac workup in the ER according to risk of major adverse cardiac events (MACE).

History	
2: highly suspicious
1: moderately suspicious
0: slightly or non-suspicious

ECG	
2: significant ST-depression
1: non-specific repolarization
0: normal

Age	
2: > 65 years old
1: 45-65 years old
0: < 45 years old

Risk Factors (DM, recent smoker <1m, HTN, HLP, fam Hx, obesity)	
2: 3+ risk factors (or prior CAD)
1: 1-2 risk factors
0: none

Troponin	
2: 3x normal limit
1: 1-3x normal limit
0: < normal limit 

LOW: 0-3 → 1.7% to 2.5% MACE over next 6 weeks (discharge home) 
MED: 4-6 → 16.6% to 20.3% MACE over next 6 weeks (observation) 
HIGH: 7-10 → 50.1% to 72.7% MACE over next 6 weeks (early invasive strategies)

According to University of Maryland Shared Decision Making program for low risk chest pain, additional ECG and troponin testing can decrease low risk group to approximately 1.7% MACE. Stress testing brings it down to 1%.

1. Backus BE, Six AJ, Kelder JH. Risk scores for patients with chest pain: evaluation in the emergency department. Current cardiology …. 2011.
2. Backus BE, Six AJ, Kelder JC, et al. A prospective validation of the HEART score for chest pain patients at the emergency department. Int J Cardiol. 2013;168(3):2153-2158. doi:10.1016/j.ijcard.2013.01.255.
3. Six AJ, Backus BE, Kelder JC. Chest pain in the emergency room: value of the HEART score. Neth Heart J. 2008;16(6):191-196.