Etiology and Age Distribution of Syncope in a Predominantly African-American Population

Abstract

BackgroundSyncope, the sudden transient loss of consciousness due to multiple etiologies, usually has worse outcomes in African Americans compared with other races because of other comorbidities. This study aims to identify a correlation between the etiologies of syncope and age in a predominantly African-American sample population to facilitate future investigations with potentially improved specificity to address this condition.MethodsWe reviewed the medical records of 155 patients who presented with syncope concerns to the emergency department at our university hospital. After three charts were discarded due to poor data, the patients were divided into four age groups: <40 years old (25 patients), 40–60 years old (62 patients), 61–80 years old (44 patients), and >80 years old (21 patients). The etiology of syncope was reviewed in each case and categorized as either a vasovagal episode, orthostatic hypotension, pulmonary embolism, and related to cardio, neurologic, drug, or unspecified.ResultsFor most of the patients in our study population, regardless of age, the etiology of syncope remained unspecified. Vasovagal related was the second most common etiology. The likelihood of having cardiac etiology under the age group of 40 is very low compared with those over 40 years (p = 0.026). Also, the incidence of pulmonary embolism is very low in all age groups with pulmonary embolism as a cause of syncope seen in only three patients (n = 3; 1.95%).ConclusionsExcept for cardiac etiology being more likely in patients over age 40, we found no other correlation of age to syncope etiology. We also found that the etiology of syncope in African-American patients is similar to that of the general population. We recommend physicians to order a relevant workup, when clinical suspicion for syncope is present along with specific etiologies.

Correlation of angle kappa with biometry and higher-order aberrations of cataract patients at Prof. Ngoerah Hospital Ophthalmology Clinic

“…In this study, interestingly angle kappa was not significantly correlated with HOA, AXL, WTW, and ACD. A previous study by Wang et al (16) had established the normative values for angle kappa in a Caucasian population, revealing a significant positive correlation of mesopic and photopic angle kappa with SE. However, no specific correlation was found between angle kappa and HOA.…”

Etiology and Age Distribution of Syncope in Delta Area Patients

“…Regarding to risk factors: Hypertension and diabetes are widespread risk factors and common co morbidities [11]. Regarding to Awan et al [1] there were 29 (18.7%) hypertensive, 33 (21%) diabetic and 49 (31.6%) patients with heart disease.…”

“…In Awan et al [1] a study conducted on 152 patients to identify a correlation between the various etiologies of syncope and age in a predominantly African American sample population there were 75 men and 77 female patients with 25 patients below the age of 40 and 127 patients above the age of 40.…”

“…Awan et al [1] showed that 13 (8.3%) patients with cardiac syncope, 18 (11.6%) patients with orthostatic syncope, 43 (27.7) patients with vasovagal syncope, 60 (38.7%) patients with idiopathic syncope. They also showed that idiopathic syncope was higher above the age of 40, this is maybe due to small sample size and most of the patients experiencing syncope review neurology before cardiology clinic.…”

“…"Syncope is a common clinical problem which is defined as a transient loss of consciousness (T-LOC) due to transient global cerebral hypoperfusion characterized by rapid onset, short duration, and spontaneous complete recovery, which is not compatible with other states of altered consciousness (seizure, coma, migraine, metabolic disorders including, hypoxic ventilation, hypoglycaemia, epilepsy, transient ischemic attack, cataplexy, drop attack, somatization disorders)" [1].…”