“The quest for an accurate risk-stratification tool has been the holy grail of syncope research for the last 2 decades.”
This study aimed to develop a risk-stratification tool to predict 30-day all-cause mortality and serious cardiac outcomes in older adults with a presentation of unexplained syncope or near-syncope.
The Study
Probst M A., et al. Risk Stratification of Older Adults Who Present to the Emergency department With Syncope: The FAINT Score. Ann of Emerg Med. February 2020; Vol 75, No 2. pp 147-158
What They Did
This was a multicenter, prospective, observational study. Patients > 60 years with syncope (transient loss of consciousness, associated with postural loss of tone, with immediate, spontaneous, and complete recovery) or near syncope (sensation of impending loss of consciousness without losing consciousness), were included.
All patients had a history, examination, cardiac biomarkers and a 12-lead ECG performed. Other tests were at the discretion of the treating doctor.
Physician gestalt was also assessed and the treating ED physician was asked to “estimate the probability that the patient would experience cardiac death or serious cardiac event at 30 days (0% to 100%) “.
The Primary Outcome was 30-day all-cause death or serious cardiac outcome. This included cardiac arrhythmia (eg., VT, VF, Blocks, Bradycardias, pacemaker malfunctions) myocardial infarction, a new diagnosis of structural heart disease (eg., aortic stenosis, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy or pulmonary hypertension, or cardiac intervention (pacemaker/defibrillator insertion, angioplasty, cardiac bypass).
N= 3,177
