• Harry Klimis, Tim Shaw, Amy Von Huben, Emma Charlston, Tim Usherwood, Garry Jennings, Ray Messom, Aravinda Thiagalingam, Naren Gunja, Amith Shetty, and Clara K Chow.
• Westmead Applied Research Centre and Faculty of Medicine and Health, University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
• Intern Med J. 2022 Nov 1; 52 (11): 193419421934-1942.

BackgroundUsing electronic data for cardiovascular risk stratification could help in prioritising healthcare access and optimise cardiovascular prevention.AimsTo determine whether assessment of absolute cardiovascular risk (Australian absolute cardiovascular disease risk (ACVDR)) and short-term ischaemic risk (History, ECG, Age, Risk factors, and Troponin (HEART) score) is possible from available data in Electronic Medical Record (EMR) and My Health Record (MHR) of patients presenting with acute cardiac symptoms to a Rapid Access Cardiology Clinic (RACC).MethodsAudit of EMR and MHR on 200 randomly selected adults who presented to RACC between 1 March 2017 and 4 February 2020. The main outcomes were the proportion of patients for which ACVDR score and HEART score could be calculated.ResultsMean age was 55.2 ± 17.8 years and 43% were female. Most (85%) were referred from emergency for chest pain (52%). Forty-six percent had hypertension, 35% obesity, 20% diabetes mellitus, 17% ischaemic heart disease and 18% were current smokers. There was no significant difference in MHR accessibility with age, gender and number of comorbidities. An ACVDR score could be estimated for 17.5% (EMR) and 0% (MHR) of patients. None had complete data to estimate HEART score in either EMR or MHR. Most commonly missing variables for ACVDR score were blood pressure (MHR) and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (EMR), and for HEART score the missing variables were body mass index and comorbidities (MHR and EMR).ConclusionsSignificant gaps are apparent in electronic medical data capture of key variables to perform cardiovascular risk assessment. Medical data capture should prioritise the collection of clinically important data to help address gaps in cardiovascular management.© 2021 Royal Australasian College of Physicians.

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