The relationship between health-related quality of life and frequency of spells in patients with syncope

Chronic syncope has a wide range of symptom burden, and anecdotal data sugg est substantial but variable physical and psychosocial morbidity. We hypoth esized that health-related quality of life (HRQL) is impaired in syncope pa tients and the degree of impairment is proportional to syncope frequency. T he EuroQol EQ-5D was completed by 136 patients (79 female and 57 male) with mean age 40 (SD = 17) prior to assessment. HRQL was substantially impaired in syncope patients compared to population norms in all five dimensions of health measured by the EQ-5D. In patients with six or more lifetime syncop al spells there was a significant (P < 0.001) negative relationship between the frequency of spells and overall perception of health, which was not ev ident in those who had a history of less than six lifetime spells. These re lationships were maintained after controlling for comorbid conditions. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Inc. All rights reserved.