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Table 5 Composite diagnostic characteristics of exercise test outcome (positive/non-conclusive tests)

From: Diagnostic characteristics and prognoses of primary-care patients referred for clinical exercise testing: a prospective observational study

Characteristic

Exertional chest pain* and pathologic ST-T segment**

Exertional chest pain and angina diagnosis according to patient’s opinion†

Exertional chest pain and pathologic ST-T segment and angina diagnosis according to patient’s opinion

(95% CI)

(95% CI)

(95% CI)

Number of patients with characteristic

26

74

15

Sensitivity

37.1% (26.8-48.9)

58.3% (49.6-66.5)

28.3% (18.0-41.6)

Specificity

92.5% (89.3-94.8)

78.5% (74.2-82.2)

96.6% (93.9-98.1)

Positive predictive value

59.9% (48.2-70.5)

45.0% (39.2-50.9)

71.5% (54.8-83.9)

Negative predictive value

83.0% (80.2-85.4)

86.2% (83.4-88.5)

81.7% (79.0-84.1)

Likelihood ratio for positive test

4.9 (3.1-7.9)

2.7 (2.1-3.4)

8.3 (4.0-18.0)

Likelihood ratio for negative test

0.7 (0.6-0.8)

0.5 (0.4-0.7)

0.7 (0.6-0.9)

Pre-test probability of having a positive/non-conclusive exercise test

23.2%

23.2%

23.2%

Net gain after positive result

36.7% (25.0-47.3)

21.8% (16.0-27.7)

48.3% (31.6-60.7)

Number of patients with characteristic per positive/non-conclusive exercise test

1.7

2.2

1.4

  1. *Chest pain when walking uphill or in a hurry. **Pathologic ST-T segment on resting electrocardiogram. †Patient’s opinion of angina diagnosis: yes or no. CI: confidence interval. Positive exercise test: angina symptoms and ST-segment depression >0.1 mV during the test. Non-conclusive test: angina or ST depression. Negative test: neither angina nor ST depression.