Electrographic exercise stress testing and coronary arteriography. Correlation among 114 men with chest pain.

The electrocardiographic response to exercise stress testing (EST) was compared with coronary arteriographic findings in 114 men referred for evaluation of chest pain. The men were divided into two groups: group A (69 men) in whom the coronary arteriograms showed at least one major vessel with greater than 70 percent reduction in cross sectional area, and group B (45 men) in whom there was no evidence of coronary arterial narrowing. In both groups A and B the description of chest pain was judged to be at least consistent with the diagnosis of angina pectoris if not always representing classical angina pectoris. Only men with a positive finding to EST and those with a negative EST response after achieving at least 90 percent of predicted maximum heart rate were included in the calculations. Our results were strikingly similar to those obtained from an extensive review of the literature and showed the following: sensitivity, 80.4 percent; specificity, 88.6 percent; predictive value of a positive test result, 91.1 percent; predictive value of a negative test result, 75.6 percent, and efficiency of the test 83.7 percent. The maximal EST is a useful predictor of coronary artery disease when a male population is evaluated for chest pain. When a population is selected on some basis other than chest pain (such as elevated lipids or age), EST is a much less useful predictor of coronary artery disease.