| Home | E-Submission | Sitemap | Contact Us |  
top_img
J Korean Soc Emerg Med > Volume 18(6); 2007 > Article
Journal of The Korean Society of Emergency Medicine 2007;18(6): 590-597.
Predictive Factors of Serious Etiology in Patients with Syncope
Ae Jin Sung, Hyun Wook Ryoo, Kang Suk Seo, Jeong Bae Park, Jae Myung Chung, Won Kee Lee, Yong Keun Cho, Jun Seok Seo, Dong Wook Je, Chang Ho Kim
1Department of Emergency Medicine, School of Medicine, Kyungpook National University, Daegu, Korea. realfreeman@hanmail.net
2Department of Preventive Medicine, School of Medicine, Kyungpook National University, Daegu, Korea.
3Department of Internal Medicine, School of Medicine, Kyungpook National University, Daegu, Korea.
4Daegu Emergency Medical Information Center, Daegu, Korea.
ABSTRACT
PURPOSE:
To stratify the risk of syncope by analyzing related risk factors of patients with possibly serious etiology who visit the emergency room with syncope.
METHODS:
We studied 201 patients who visited the emergency room of Kyungpook National University Hospital with syncope from January 2004 to December 2006. We defined serious etiology as arrhythmia, angina pectoris, myocardial infarction, septic shock, meningitis, cerebral infarction, subarachnoid hemorrhage, brain tumor, significant hemorrhage, and malfunction of cardiac pacemaker requiring immediate treatment and intervention. We analyzed the relationship between 81 risk factors and serious etiology to stratify the risk for patients with syncope.
RESULTS:
The patient group consisted of 105 males and 96 females with an average age of 56.4+/-20.7 years. Fifty-four patients had serious etiology. Among the 81 risk factors, those identified through univariate and multivariate analysis as having high predictive sensitivity and specificity were shortness of breath (odds ratio [OR]: 18.34, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 5.59-60.16); abnormal electrocardiography (OR: 10.29, 95% CI: 1.43-74.33); hematocrit <28.3% (OR: 9.64, 95% CI: 3.47-26.73); age > or =47 years (OR: 6.24, 95% CI: 1.14-34.17); and admission via an out-patient department or by transfer from outside hospital (OR: 4.07, 95% CI: 1.15-14.36).
CONCLUSION:
Risk factors correlated with serious etiology for syncope are shortness of breath, abnormal electrocardiography, hematocrit <28.3%, age > or =47 years, and admission via an out-patient department or transfer from an outside hospital.
Key words: Syncope, Etiology, Risk Factors
Editorial Office
The Korean Society of Emergency Medicine
TEL: +82-62-226-1780   FAX: +82-62-224-3501   E-mail: 0012194@csuh.co.kr
About |  Browse Articles |  Current Issue |  For Authors and Reviewers
Copyright © The Korean Society of Emergency Medicine.                 Developed in M2PI