Syncope, commonly known as fainting, or passing out, is a loss of consciousness and muscle strength characterized by a fast onset, short duration, and spontaneous recovery. It is caused by a decrease in blood flow to the brain, typically from low blood pressure. There are sometimes symptoms before the loss of consciousness such as lightheadedness, sweating, pale skin, blurred vision, nausea, vomiting, or feeling warm. Syncope may also be associated with a short episode of muscle twitching. Psychiatric causes can also be determined when a patient experiences fear, anxiety, or panic; particularly before a stressful event usually medical in nature. When consciousness and muscle strength are not completely lost, it is called presyncope. It is recommended that presyncope be treated the same as syncope.Causes range from non-serious to potentially fatal. There are three broad categories of causes: heart or blood vessel related; reflex, also known as neurally mediated; and orthostatic hypotension. Issues with the heart and blood vessels are the cause in about 10% and typically the most serious while neurally mediated is the most common. Heart related causes may include an abnormal heart rhythm, problems with the heart valves or heart muscle and blockages of blood vessels from a pulmonary embolism or aortic dissection among others. Neurally mediated syncope occurs when blood vessels expand and heart rate decreases inappropriately. This may occur from either a triggering event such as exposure to blood, pain, strong feelings or a specific activity such as urination, vomiting, or coughing.
If fainting spells occur often without a triggering event, syncope may be a sign of an underlying heart disease. In the case where syncope is caused by cardiac disease, the treatment is much more sophisticated than that of vasovagal syncope and may involve pacemakers and implantable cardioverter-defibrillators depending on the precise cardiac cause. Risk tools
The San Francisco syncope rule was developed to isolate people who have higher risk for a serious cause of syncope. High risk is anyone who has: congestive heart failure, hematocrit <30%, electrocardiograph abnormality, shortness of breath, or systolic blood pressure <90 mmHg. The San Francisco syncope rule however was not validated by subsequent studies.The Canadian syncope risk score was developed to help select low-risk people that may be viable for discharge home. A score of <0 on the Canadian syncope risk score is associated with <2% risk of serious adverse event within 30 days. It has been shown to be more effective than older syncope risk scores even combined with cardiac biomarkers at predicting adverse events. Epidemiology
There are 18.1–39.7 syncope episodes per 1000 people in the general population. Rates are highest between the ages of 10–30 years old. This is likely because of the high rates of vasovagal syncope in the young adult population. Older adults are more likely to have orthostatic or cardiac syncope. Syncope affects about three to six out of every thousand people each year. It is more common in older people and females. It is the reason for 2–5% of visits to emergency departments and admissions to hospital.