[Social costs of syncope]

Syncope is a common syndrome that increases in prevalence with the aging of the population. The causes of this common symptom are multiple and the costs for the evaluation and treatment of syncope are enormous, especially with the use of highly technological approaches. Even when syncope is the expression of benign diseases, it may be the cause of significant morbidity for injuries, fractures and subsequent functional impairment, which particularly for elderly patients, matches that of other common chronic diseases. Finally, we cannot ignore the social costs caused by the reduction of working hours for diagnostic and therapeutic procedures and the subsequent loss of productivity.