title: The relationship between health-related quality of life and frequency of spells in patients with syncope.
abstract: Chronic syncope has a wide range of symptom burden, and anecdotal data suggest substantial but variable physical and psychosocial morbidity. We hypothesized that health-related quality of life (HRQL) is impaired in syncope patients and the degree of impairment is proportional to syncope frequency. The EuroQol EQ-5D was completed by 136 patients (79 female and 57 male) with mean age 40 (SD = 17) prior to assessment. HRQL was substantially impaired in syncope patients compared to population norms in all five dimensions of health measured by the EQ-5D. In patients with six or more lifetime syncopal spells there was a significant (P < 0.001) negative relationship between the frequency of spells and overall perception of health, which was not evident in those who had a history of less than six lifetime spells. These relationships were maintained after controlling for comorbid conditions.
authors.affiliation: Health Research Group, University of Calgary, 3330 Hospital Drive N. W., Calgary, T2N 4N1, Alberta, Canada.
authors.forename: M S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Rose
authors.forename: M L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Koshman
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Spreng
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Sheldon
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002908:Chronic Disease; D015897:Comorbidity; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D016014:Linear Models; D008297:Male; D011788:Quality of Life; D012307:Risk Factors; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013575:Syncope / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology*; D018667:Tilt-Table Test