The impact of geographical distances to coronary angiography laboratories on the patient evaluation pathways in patients with suspected coronary artery disease. Results from a population-based study in Hungary.

Introduction: Coronary artery disease (CAD) has been a leading cause of death in the western world for the last few decades, despite significant improvements in treatment and management. Diagnostic algorithms for the evaluation of patients with suspected CAD are based on available guidelines.

Aim: To evaluate the impact of geographical distances to coronary angiography laboratories on the patient evaluation pathways in patients with suspected CAD, from a population-based study in Hungary.

The effect of the waiting times on the patient pathways for patients with suspected coronary artery disease.

The paper describes the investigation of the Hungarian public administrative health databases with the aim to identify hidden correspondences in the patients' evaluation pathways for patients with suspected coronary artery disease (CAD). In our current work we investigated the effect of the waiting times of invasive and non-invasive investigations in the evaluation pathways of patients with suspected CAD. We found a considerable correlation between waiting times and the further course of the patients.