[1-year prognosis of syncope and brief loss of consciousness in patients over 65. A multicenter study of 188 cases]. / Pronostic à un an des lipothymies et pertes de connaissance brèves après 65 ans. Etude multicentrique de 188 cas.

The one-year outcome of syncope and transient loss of consciousness was studied prospectively in 188 patients aged over 65 admitted to internal medicine departments. Thirty-seven patients (19.6 p. 100) died. This mortality rate at one year was 2.34 times higher than that of a non-hospitalized french population of the same age group (standardized mortality ratio, SMR = 2.34, P less than 0.001). The frequency of sudden death (7 cases) was much higher than that observed in the reference population (0.05 expected deaths, P less than 0.0001). Overmortality was clearly apparent in groups with an initial diagnosis of heart disease (SMR = 2.36, P less than 0.01) or neurological disease (SMR = 4.25, P less than 0.001). The relapse rate was 28 p. 100 globally and up to 43 p. 100 in cardiac patients. In the group with iatrogenic symptoms treatment was appropriately corrected in 86 p. 100 of the patients, and none of these relapsed. One year after the initial episode 11 p. 100 of the surviving patients had been institutionalized.