Chest pain is one of the most common complaints in the emergency department, but the cost of emergency department chest pain patients is unclear. The aim of this study was to describe the direct hospital costs for unselected chest pain patients attending the emergency department.

Costs for chest pain patients are large and primarily due to admission time. The present admission practice seems to be cost-effective, but the substantial over admission indicates that better emergency department diagnostics and triage could decrease costs considerably.

Reprinted with Permission from BioMed Central Ltd.