Disease-related syncope. Analysis of a community-based hospital registry

Syncope is characterized by sudden and transient loss of consciousness that follows a reduction or interruption of cerebral blood flow. The present st udy was designed to assess the prevalence of disease-related syncope in a w ide sample of in-patients admitted for different diseases. A total of 16 80 9 patients (age range 18-99 years) were recruited from three hospitals in F lorence in 1998. The community-based registry was reviewed to identify all patients suffering from complaints associated with syncope. Each disease-re lated syncope was matched with the number of patients suffering from that d isease. Furthermore, each disease was expressed as a percentage of total ca ses included in the study. The odds ratio was calculated to determine the i ndex of significant correlation between syncope and occasional diseases. To tal syncopes were 775 (prevalence 4.46%), vasovagal syncopes were 336 (1.9% of total sample and 44% of total syncopes), and the disease-related syncop es were 439 (56% of total syncopes). We found a significant association bet ween syncope and orthostatic hypotension, complete heart block, chronic cer ebral disease, migraine, acute gastrointestinal haemorrhages and aortic ste nosis. Furthermore, we found a significant association with acute gastroint estinal haemorrhage, which has not been described previously. Significant r elationships emerged from our data which yield a new insight into the assoc iation between syncope and a wide range of systemic diseases.