The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), through its Evidence-Based Practice Centers (EPCs), sponsors the development of evidence reports and technology assessments to assist public- and private-sector organizations in their efforts to improve the quality of health care in the United States. The reports and assessments provide organizations with comprehensive, science-based information on common, costly medical conditions and new health care technologies.

This past summer, ARQH released “Evidence Report/Technology Assessment Number 81—Diagnosis and Treatment of Coronary Heart Disease in Women: Systematic Reviews of Evidence on Selected Topics”  (http://www.ahcpr.gov/clinic/epcsums/chdwtopsum.htm).

In this document, AHRQ examines a number of questions relating to the value of troponin in the diagnosis and care of women with coronary heart disease. Join us as Dr. Robert Christenson of the University of Maryland School of Medicine (Baltimore, Md.) reviews the AHRQ study and looks at

• The impact of troponin on risk for death among women with non-ST elevation acute coronary syndromes
  
• The prognostic value of troponin for mortality in men and women
  
• The impact of troponin on risk for death or myocardial infarction for women with non-ST elevation acute coronary syndromes
  
• Differences in the prognostic value of troponin for mortality or myocardial infarction between men and women?