Evidence map›Paper›PMID 38199706›Full record

ArticleJournal of the American College of Cardiology2024

Rethinking False Positive Exercise Electrocardiographic Stress Tests by Assessing Coronary Microvascular Function.

Aish Sinha, Utkarsh Dutta, Ozan M Demir, Kalpa De Silva, Howard Ellis, Samuel Belford, Mark Ogden, Matthew Li Kam Wa, Holly P Morgan, Ajay M Shah and 5 more

Open access · hybridAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Journal of the American College of Cardiology, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 42 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
42citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
30.7field-weighted citation impact, top 1% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

42 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 76 citations in OpenAlex.

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  20. New avenues for the assessment of stable ischemic heart disease.Clinical research in cardiology : official journal of the German Cardiac Society · 2025
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

15 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.

Aish SinhaBritish Heart Foundation Center of Excellence and National Institute for Health Research Biomedical Research Center at the School of Cardiovascular Medicine and Sciences, King's College London, London, United Kingdom. Electronic address: https://twitter.com/AishSinha1.
Utkarsh DuttaBritish Heart Foundation Center of Excellence and National Institute for Health Research Biomedical Research Center at the School of Cardiovascular Medicine and Sciences, King's College London, London, United Kingdom.
Ozan M DemirBritish Heart Foundation Center of Excellence and National Institute for Health Research Biomedical Research Center at the School of Cardiovascular Medicine and Sciences, King's College London, London, United Kingdom.
Kalpa De SilvaBritish Heart Foundation Center of Excellence and National Institute for Health Research Biomedical Research Center at the School of Cardiovascular Medicine and Sciences, King's College London, London, United Kingdom.
Howard EllisBritish Heart Foundation Center of Excellence and National Institute for Health Research Biomedical Research Center at the School of Cardiovascular Medicine and Sciences, King's College London, London, United Kingdom.
Samuel BelfordBritish Heart Foundation Center of Excellence and National Institute for Health Research Biomedical Research Center at the School of Cardiovascular Medicine and Sciences, King's College London, London, United Kingdom.
Mark OgdenBritish Heart Foundation Center of Excellence and National Institute for Health Research Biomedical Research Center at the School of Cardiovascular Medicine and Sciences, King's College London, London, United Kingdom.
Matthew Li Kam WaBritish Heart Foundation Center of Excellence and National Institute for Health Research Biomedical Research Center at the School of Cardiovascular Medicine and Sciences, King's College London, London, United Kingdom.
Holly P MorganBritish Heart Foundation Center of Excellence and National Institute for Health Research Biomedical Research Center at the School of Cardiovascular Medicine and Sciences, King's College London, London, United Kingdom.
Ajay M ShahBritish Heart Foundation Center of Excellence and National Institute for Health Research Biomedical Research Center at the School of Cardiovascular Medicine and Sciences, King's College London, London, United Kingdom.
Amedeo ChiribiriBritish Heart Foundation Center of Excellence and National Institute for Health Research Biomedical Research Center at the School of Cardiovascular Medicine and Sciences, King's College London, London, United Kingdom.
Andrew J WebbBritish Heart Foundation Center of Excellence and National Institute for Health Research Biomedical Research Center at the School of Cardiovascular Medicine and Sciences, King's College London, London, United Kingdom.
Michael MarberBritish Heart Foundation Center of Excellence and National Institute for Health Research Biomedical Research Center at the School of Cardiovascular Medicine and Sciences, King's College London, London, United Kingdom.
Haseeb RahmanBritish Heart Foundation Center of Excellence and National Institute for Health Research Biomedical Research Center at the School of Cardiovascular Medicine and Sciences, King's College London, London, United Kingdom. Electronic address: haseeb.rahman@kcl.ac.uk.
Divaka PereraBritish Heart Foundation Center of Excellence and National Institute for Health Research Biomedical Research Center at the School of Cardiovascular Medicine and Sciences, King's College London, London, United Kingdom. Electronic address: https://twitter.com/divaka_perera.
King's College London · GBTwitter (United States) · US

Funding

British Heart Foundation FS/CRTF/22/24342Medical Research Council MR/T029390/1
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundExercise electrocardiographic stress testing (EST) has historically been validated against the demonstration of obstructive coronary artery disease. However, myocardial ischemia can occur because of coronary microvascular dysfunction (CMD) in the absence of obstructive coronary artery disease.

objectivesThe aim of this study was to assess the specificity of EST to detect an ischemic substrate against the reference standard of coronary endothelium-independent and endothelium-dependent microvascular function in patients with angina with nonobstructive coronary arteries (ANOCA).

methodsPatients with ANOCA underwent invasive coronary physiological assessment using adenosine and acetylcholine. CMD was defined as impaired endothelium-independent and/or endothelium-dependent function. EST was performed using a standard Bruce treadmill protocol, with ischemia defined as the appearance of ≥0.1-mV ST-segment depression 80 ms from the J-point on electrocardiography. The study was powered to detect specificity of ≥91%.

resultsA total of 102 patients were enrolled (65% women, mean age 60 ± 8 years). Thirty-two patients developed ischemia (ischemic group) during EST, whereas 70 patients did not (nonischemic group); both groups were phenotypically similar. Ischemia during EST was 100% specific for CMD. Acetylcholine flow reserve was the strongest predictor of ischemia during exercise. Using endothelium-independent and endothelium-dependent microvascular dysfunction as the reference standard, the false positive rate of EST dropped to 0%.

conclusionsIn patients with ANOCA, ischemia on EST was highly specific of an underlying ischemic substrate. These findings challenge the traditional belief that EST has a high false positive rate.

Indexed as

Coronary Artery DiseaseMyocardial IschemiaVascular DiseasesAcetylcholineAgedElectrocardiographyExercise TestFemaleHumansIschemiaMaleMiddle AgedAcetylcholineacetylcholine flow reservecoronary flow reservecoronary microvascular dysfunctioncoronary physiological assessmentexercise stress testfalse positive rate

Identifiers

PMID38199706
PMCPMC10790243
OpenAlexW4390661000

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.