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Epidemiological characteristics and diagnostic approach in patients admitted to the emergency room for transient loss of consciousness: Group for Syncope Study in the Emergency Room (GESINUR) study

AIMS To assess the clinical presentation and acute management of patients with transient loss of consciousness (T-LOC) in the emergency department (ED). METHODS AND RESULTS A multi-centre prospective observational study was carried out in 19 Spanish hospitals over 1 month. The patients included were > or =14 years old and were admitted to the ED because of an episode of T-LOC. Questionnaires and corresponding electrocardiograms (ECGs) were reviewed by a Steering Committee (SC) to unify diagnostic criteria, evaluate adherence to guidelines, and diagnose correctly the ECGs. We included 1419 patients (prevalence, 1.14%). ECG was performed in 1335 patients (94%) in the ED: 498 (37.3%) ECGs were classified as abnormal. The positive diagnostic yield ranged from 0% for the chest X-ray to 12% for the orthostatic test. In the ED, 1217 (86%) patients received a final diagnosis of syncope, whereas the remaining 202 (14%) were diagnosed of non-syncopal transient loss of consciousness (NST-LOC). After final review by the SC, 1080 patients (76%) were diagnosed of syncope, whereas 339 (24%) were diagnosed of NST-LOC (P < 0.001). Syncope was diagnosed correctly in 84% of patients. Only 25% of patients with T-LOC were admitted to hospitals. CONCLUSION Adherence to clinical guidelines for syncope management was low; many diagnostic tests were performed with low diagnostic yield. Important differences were observed between syncope diagnoses at the ED and by SC decision.

Randomized comparison of intravenous procainamide vs. intravenous amiodarone for the acute treatment of tolerated wide QRS tachycardia: the PROCAMIO study

Aims Intravenous procainamide and amiodarone are drugs of choice for well-tolerated ventricular tachycardia. However, the choice between them, even according to Guidelines, is unclear. We performed a multicentre randomized open-labelled study to determine the safety and efficacy of intravenous procainamide and amiodarone for the acute treatment of tolerated wide QRS complex (probably ventricular) tachycardia. Methods and results Patients were randomly assigned to receive intravenous procainamide (10 mg/kg/20 min) or amiodarone (5 mg/kg/20 min). The primary endpoint was the incidence of major predefined cardiac adverse events within 40 min after infusion initiation. Of 74 patients included, 62 could be analysed. The primary endpoint occurred in 3 of 33 (9%) procainamide and 12 of 29 (41%) amiodarone patients (odd ratio, OR = 0.1; 95% confidence interval, CI 0.03–0.6; P = 0.006). Tachycardia terminated within 40 min in 22 (67%) procainamide and 11 (38%) amiodarone patients (OR = 3.3; 95% CI 1.2–9.3; P = 0.026). In the following 24 h, adverse events occurred in 18% procainamide and 31% amiodarone patients (OR: 0.49; 95% CI: 0.15–1.61; P: 0.24). Among 49 patients with structural heart disease, the primary endpoint was less common in procainamide patients (3 [11%] vs. 10 [43%]; OR: 0.17; 95% CI: 0.04–0.73, P = 0.017). Conclusions This study compares for the first time in a randomized design intravenous procainamide and amiodarone for the treatment of the acute episode of sustained monomorphic well-tolerated (probably) ventricular tachycardia. Procainamide therapy was associated with less major cardiac adverse events and a higher proportion of tachycardia termination within 40 min.

Prognostic value of the electrocardiogram in patients with syncope: Data from the Group for Syncope Study in the Emergency Room (GESINUR)

BACKGROUND The Group for Syncope Study in the Emergency Room (GESINUR) was a Spanish multicenter, prospective, observational study that evaluated the clinical presentation and acute management of loss of consciousness in Spain. Several studies have shown that an abnormal ECG is a poor prognostic factor in patients with syncope. However, the prognostic significance of each ECG abnormality is not well known. OBJECTIVE The purpose of this study was to study the association between specific ECG abnormalities and mortality in patients with syncope from the GESINUR study. METHODS All patients in the GESINUR study who had syncope and had available, readable ECG and 12-month follow-up data were included in this retrospective observational study (n = 524, age 57 ± 22 years, 50.6% male). ECG abnormalities were analyzed and assessed to evaluate whether an association with all-cause mortality existed at 12 months. RESULTS ECGs were classified as abnormal in 344 patients (65.6%). Thirty-three patients died during follow-up (6.3%), but only 1 due to sudden cardiovascular death. Atrial fibrillation (odds ratio [OR] 6.8, 95% confidence interval [CI] 2.8-16.3, P <.001), intraventricular conduction disturbances (OR 3.8, 95% CI 1.7-8.3, P = .001), left ventricular hypertrophy ECG criteria (OR 6.3, 95% CI 1.5-26.3, P = .011), and ventricular pacing (OR 21.8, 95% CI 4.1-115.3, P <.001) were the only independent ECG predictors of all-cause mortality. CONCLUSION Although an abnormal ECG in patients with syncope is a common finding, only the presence of atrial fibrillation, intraventricular conduction disturbances, left ventricular hypertrophy ECG criteria, and ventricular pacing is associated with 1-year all-cause mortality.

Impact of Frailty and Disability on 30-Day Mortality in Older Patients With Acute Heart Failure

The objectives were to determine the impact of frailty and disability on 30-day mortality and whether the addition of these variables to HFRSS EFFECT risk score (FBI-EFFECT model) improves the short-term mortality predictive capacity of both HFRSS EFFECT and BI-EFFECT models in older patients with acute decompensated heart failure (ADHF) atended in the emergency department. We performed a retrospective analysis of OAK Registry including all consecutive patients ≥65 years old with ADHF attended in 3 Spanish emergency departments over 4 months. FBI-EFFECT model was developed by adjusting probabilities of HFRSS EFFECT risk categories according to the 6 groups (G1: non frail, no or mildly dependent; G2: frail, no or mildly dependent; G3: non frail, moderately dependent; G4: frail, moderately dependent; G5: severely dependent; G6: very severely dependent).We included 596 patients (mean age: 83 [SD7]; 61.2% females). The 30-day mortality was 11.6% with statistically significant differences in the 6 groups (p < 0.001). After adjusting for HFRSS EFFECT risk categories, we observed a progressive increase in hazard ratios from groups G2 to G6 compared with G1 (reference). FBI-EFFECT had a better prognostic accuracy than did HFRSS EFFECT (log-rank p < 0.001; Net Reclassification Improvement [NRI] = 0.355; p < 0.001; Integrated Discrimination Improvement [IDI] = 0.052; p ;< 0.001) and BI-EFFECT (log-rank p = 0.067; NRI = 0.210; p = 0.033; IDI = 0.017; p = 0.026). In conclusion, severe disability and frailty in patients with moderate disability are associated with 30-day mortality in ADHF, providing additional value to HFRSS EFFECT model in predicting short-term prognosis and establishing a care plan.