If you go to the emergency room for chest pain, and you then receive follow-up care with a cardiologist within a month of the visit, you may lower your risk of heart attack or death within a year by 21 percent. Research published in the American Heart Association journal Circulation found, however, that only 17 percent of high-risk chest pain patients who are seen in the ER were evaluated by a cardiologist within a month. About 58 percent of patients saw primary care physicians alone, while 25 percent had no physician follow-up within a month.
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