Epidemiology: Difference between revisions

Studies in young populations show a strikingly high incidence of syncope. Two recent surveys of the frequency of syncope in medical students demonstrated that ''20-25% of males and 40-50% of females'' report to have experienced at least one such episode (Ganzeboom et al., 2003;Serletis et al., 2006). The majority of the syncope triggers identified in these students involved stresses or conditions that affect orthostatic blood pressure control. Neurally mediated syncope was therefore a likely cause of the symptoms in these young subjects. The incidence peak of presumed neurally mediated syncope around the age of 15 years and the much higher incidence in young females is a consistent finding (fig. 1)(Ganzeboom et al., 2003;Colman et al., 2004a;Ganzeboom et al., 2006;Serletis et al., 2006;Sheldon et al., 2006).  A family history of presumed neurally mediated syncope in the first degree relatives is often present in young fainting subjects (Mathias et al., 1998;Serletis et al., 2006).