Effect of Electrocardiography Findings on 30-day Mortality among Patients Treated for Syncope in the Emergency...

Syncope is one of the most common reasons for hospital admission. Several risk scores exist for the follow-up, discharge, and hospitalization of such patients.

To investigate the effect of the R+S value and other electrocardiography (ECG) findings on the 30-day prognosis of patients presenting to the emergency department with syncope of unknown cause.

This study examined 217 patients (116 males and 101 females) aged 18 years and older who presented to the emergency department with syncope. In the ECG, atrioventricular block, right or left bundle branch block, ventricular hypertrophy, QT interval prolongation, QRS duration prolongation, pathological Q wave, pathological ST-T changes, and arrhythmias were accepted as pathological. In addition, we collected the patients' chest ECG derivations in which the highest R wave was present, and the derivation in which the most profound S wave was present; these values were collected, and the maximum R+S values were recorded. The mortality status of the patients within 30 days was recorded. (The level of significance was set at P < 0.05).

Patients with bundle branch block, arrhythmia, QRS prolongation, QT prolongation, and atrioventricular block in the ECG had a higher mortality rate (P < 0.05). We calculated the sum of the highest R+S values and found a significant relationship between the increase in this value and the increase in patient mortality (P = 0.002).

Higher mortality was observed in patients with syncope who showed elevated R+S values, bundle branch block, arrhythmia, QRS prolongation, QT prolongation, and AV block in ECG.