Safety and efficacy of the European Society of Cardiology 0/1-hour algorithm for diagnosis of myocardial infarction: systematic review and meta-analysis

Abstract

Objective: The European Society of Cardiology (ESC) 0/1 hour algorithm has been primarily validated in Europe, America and Australasia with less knowledge of its performance outside of these settings. We aim to evaluate the performance of the ESC 0/1 hour algorithm across different contexts.

Methods: We searched PubMed, Embase, Scopus, Web of Science and the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials for relevant studies published between 1 January 2008 and 31 May 2019. The primary outcome was index myocardial infarction and the secondary outcome was major adverse cardiac event or mortality. A bivariate random-effects meta-analysis was used to derive the pooled estimate of each outcome.

Results: A total of 11 014 patients from 10 cohorts were analysed for the primary outcome. The algorithm based on high-sensitivity cardiac troponin (hs-cTn)T (Roche), hs-cTnI (Abbott) and hs-cTnI (Siemens) had pooled sensitivity of 98.4% (95% CI=95.1% to 99.5%), 98.1% (95% CI=94.6% to 99.3%) and 98.7% (95% CI=97.3% to 99.3%), respectively. The algorithm based on hs-cTnT (Roche) and hs-cTnI (Siemens) had pooled specificity of 91.2% (95% CI=86.0% to 94.6%) and 95.9% (95% CI=94.1% to 97.2%), respectively. Among patients in the rule-out category, the pooled mortality rate at 30 days and at 1 year was 0.1% (95% CI=0.0% to 0.4%) and 0.8% (95% CI=0.5% to 1.2%), respectively. Among patients in the observation zone, the pooled mortality rate was 0.7% (95% CI=0.3% to 1.2%) at 30 days but increased to 8.1% (95% CI=6.1% to 10.4%) at 1 year, comparable to the mortality rate in the rule-in group.

Conclusion: The ESC 0/1 hour algorithm has high diagnostic accuracy but may not be sufficiently safe if the 1% miss-rate for myocardial infarction is desired.

Prospero registration number: CRD42019142280.

Keywords: acute coronary syndromes; acute myocardial infarction.