Introduction: Syncope in older persons is common. A standardized approach can achieve a diagnosis in up 70% of patients. Current guidelines advise an echocardiogram (echo) is a helpful screening test if the history, physical examination, and ECG do not provide a diagnosis. However, there is minimal data on the diagnostic yield of echo in elderly patients. The purpose of this study is to assess whether echo adds diagnostic utility in older patients with syncope.
Methods: Prospective study of patients attending a syncope clinic over a 12 month period in 2010. Inclusion criteria were age >65 years and = 1 syncope in the previous 12 months. If clinical assessment, including ECG, was not diagnostic patients underwent transthoracic echo.
Results: Sixty-one patients were included. The mean age was 78 (± SD 6.28) years and 32 (53%) were female. A diagnosis was achieved in 45 (74%) patients on clinical assessment. Echo was not diagnostic in the 16 patients with unexplained syncope.
Conclusions: Echo in addition to clinical assessment did not increase the diagnostic yield in older patients with unexplained syncope.