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Association between syncope and the 6-month incidence of ischemic stroke, arrhythmia, brain tumor, epilepsy, and anxiety disorder

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posted on 2024-02-05, 13:16 authored by Danilo Christian Gümbel, Christian Tanislav, Marcel Konrad, Louis Jacob, Ai Koyanagi, Lee Smith, Karel Kostev
Objectives: the aim of the present study is to investigate the associations between syncope and subsequent diagnoses of brain tumor, cardiac arrhythmia, stroke/transient ischemic attack (TIA), epilepsy, and anxiety disorder in a large outpatient population in Germany. Methods: This retrospective cohort study uses data from the Disease Analyzer database (IQVIA). Adults who received syncope diagnosis from one of 1284 general practices between January 2005 and December 2021 (index date) were included and matched (1:1) to individuals without syncope diagnosis using a propensity score based on age, sex, the number of consultations during the follow-up period (up to 6 months), and defined co-diagnoses documented within 12 months prior to and on the index date. Finally, associations between syncope and subsequent outcome diagnoses were investigated using multivariable logistic regression models. Results: Data related to 64,016 patients with and 64,016 patients without syncope (mean age 54.5 years, 56.5% female) were available. In total, 6.43% of syncope patients and 2.14% of non-syncope patients were diagnosed with one of the five outcome diagnoses within 6 months of the index date. There was a positive and significant association between syncope and incidences of ischemic stroke/TIA (OR = 2.83, 95% CI = 2.41–3.32), arrhythmia (OR = 3.81, 95% CI = 3.44–4.18), brain tumor (OR = 4.24, 95% CI = 2.50–7.19), epilepsy (OR = 5.52, 95% CI = 4.27–7.14), and anxiety disorder (OR = 1.99, 95% CI = 1.79–2.21). Conclusions: Syncope is significantly associated with an increased risk of subsequent ischemic stroke/TIA, cardiac arrhythmia, brain tumor, epilepsy, and anxiety disorder. Nevertheless, the cumulative incidences for all five diagnoses are very low.

History

Refereed

  • Yes

Volume

11

Issue number

13

Publication title

Healthcare

ISSN

2227-9032

Publisher

MDPI

Location

Switzerland

File version

  • Published version

Language

  • eng

Item sub-type

Journal Article

Media of output

Electronic

Affiliated with

  • School of Psychology and Sport Science Outputs