If you have chest pain now
If you have chest pain that is severe, lasts more than a few minutes, or comes with breathlessness, sweating, or pain spreading to the arm or jaw, call 999 immediately. This page explains a tool doctors use — it is not a way to check your own symptoms at home.
What goes into the score?
HEART stands for five things the doctor assesses: History (the story of the pain), ECG (the heart tracing), Age, Risk factors (such as smoking, diabetes, high blood pressure or family history), and Troponin (a blood test for heart-muscle injury).
Each of the five is scored 0, 1 or 2, and the points are added up to give a total from 0 to 10.
What does the result mean?
A low total suggests a low risk of a heart problem in the coming weeks, and some patients can be reassured and safely sent home with advice. A higher total suggests more risk and usually means admission for monitoring and further tests.
The score supports the doctor's judgement — it is never used on its own, and it does not diagnose or rule out a heart attack by itself.
Common questions
Does a low HEART score mean my heart is fine?
Not on its own. It suggests a lower risk over the next few weeks, but doctors combine it with your symptoms, examination, ECG and blood tests before making any decision.
Can I work out my own HEART score?
It is designed for clinicians, because parts of it (the ECG and troponin blood test) need to be done and interpreted in hospital. If you are worried about chest pain, seek medical help rather than scoring yourself.
Related tools
These calculators are designed for healthcare professionals.