title: Exercise stress testing for the family physician: Part II. Interpretation of the results.
abstract: Information gained from exercise stress testing includes the heart rate and blood pressure response, the presence of symptoms or dysrhythmias, functional aerobic capacity and evidence of myocardial ischemia. Certain ST-segment patterns correlate with various degrees of ischemia. Overall, stress testing has a sensitivity and a specificity of about 70 and 75 percent, respectively, but the results are even more useful than this when considered in light of the pre- and post-test probability of coronary artery disease. Use of the exercise test score and decision-tree algorithms is helpful in clinical decision making.
authors.affiliation: Florida Hospital Medical Center, Orlando.
authors.forename: C H
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Evans
authors.forename: H B
authors.initials: HB
authors.lastname: Karunaratne
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D001145:Arrhythmias, Cardiac / Q000175:diagnosis; D003327:Coronary Disease / Q000175:diagnosis*; D004562:Electrocardiography; D005080:Exercise Test; D005194:Family Practice; D006801:Humans; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity