BACKGROUND syncope is a common cause of hospitalisation in the elderly. However, morbidity and mortality in elderly patients with syncope is not well established. METHODS two-hundred and forty-two patients older than 65 years consecutively referred to the participating centres for evaluation of transient loss of consciousness were enrolled in a multicentre 2-year longitudinal observational st...

BACKGROUND The dynamic autonomic processes leading to vasovagal syncope are poorly understood. METHODS AND RESULTS We used complex demodulation to continuously assess changes in respiration, R-R interval, and arterial pressure (blood pressure) variability during 60 degree head-up tilt in 25 healthy subjects with tilt-induced vasovagal syncope and 25 age-matched nonsyncopal control subjects. C...

BACKGROUND Previous studies that assessed the effects of beta-blockers in preventing vasovagal syncope provided mixed results. Our goal was to determine whether treatment with metoprolol reduces the risk of syncope in patients with vasovagal syncope. METHODS AND RESULTS The multicenter Prevention of Syncope Trial (POST) was a randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind, trial designed to ass...

AIMS Aim of this observational study is to evaluate the clinical performance of a Syncope Unit, in order to assess whether the implemented organization really improves syncope management. METHODS AND RESULTS The study enrolled patients with unexplained syncope who were consecutively referred to our Syncope Unit, either as outpatients or during hospitalization, in a 2-month period. The design ...

BACKGROUND Recent evidences have supported migraine headache and neurally mediated syncope as the especial types of endotheliopathies. To determine endothelial function in patients with migraine headache or those with neurally mediated syncope, the present study was conducted. MATERIALS AND METHODS This cross-sectional study was performed on 93 consecutive patients aged 5-20 years in four gro...

Background—The primary aim and central hypothesis of the study are that a designated syncope unit in the emergency department improves diagnostic yield and reduces hospital admission for patients with syncope who are at intermediate risk for an adverse cardiovascular outcome. Methods and Results—In this prospective, randomized, single-center study, patients were randomly allocated to 2 treatmen...

PURPOSE Syncope is an atypical presentation for acute pulmonary embolism (APE). There are conflicting data concerning syncope and prognosis of APE. PATIENTS AND METHODS One hundred and seventy-nine consecutive patients aged 22-96 years (median, 68 years) with APE were retrospectively enrolled in the study. RESULTS Prevalence of syncope was 13% (n=23) at the time of presentation. Compared to...

Abstract The cause of syncope remains unknown in about 40% of cases after extensive investigations. Elderly patients are at increased risk of syncope because of the physiologic changes due to aging, higher incidence of chronic illness and the use of a greater number of medications that may contribute to hypotension. Syncope is common, difficult to evaluate and has a high morbidity and mortality...

BACKGROUND Syncope is a clinical event characterized by a transient loss of consciousness, estimated to affect 6.2/1000 person-years, resulting in remarkable health care and social costs. Human pathophysiology suggests that heat may promote syncope during standing. We tested the hypothesis that the increase of air temperatures from January to July would be accompanied by an increased rate of sy...

BACKGROUND The prognostic significance of syncope has not been investigated systematically in hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, and treatment strategies have been based largely on intuition and experience. METHODS AND RESULTS We assessed the relationship between syncope and sudden death in 1511 consecutive patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. Unexplained (n=153) or neurally mediated (n=52) s...