• Ann Emerg Med · Feb 2024

    Observational Study

    Syncope While Driving and the Risk of a Subsequent Motor Vehicle Crash.

    • John A Staples, Shannon Erdelyi, Ketki Merchant, Candace Yip, Mayesha Khan, Donald A Redelmeier, Herbert Chan, and Jeffrey R Brubacher.
    • Department of Medicine, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada; Centre for Clinical Epidemiology & Evaluation (C2E2), Vancouver, Canada. Electronic address: john.staples@ubc.ca.
    • Ann Emerg Med. 2024 Feb 1; 83 (2): 147157147-157.

    Study ObjectiveSyncope that occurs while driving can result in a motor vehicle crash. Whether individuals with a prior syncope-related crash exhibit an exceptional risk of subsequent crash remains uncertain.MethodsWe performed a population-based retrospective observational study of patients diagnosed with 'syncope and collapse' at any of 6 emergency departments in British Columbia, Canada (2010 to 2015). Data were obtained from chart abstraction, administrative health records, insurance claims and police crash reports. We compared crash-free survival among individuals with crash-associated syncope (a crash and an emergency visit for syncope on the same date) to that among controls with syncope alone (no crash on date of emergency visit for syncope).ResultsIn the year following their index emergency visit, 13 of 63 drivers with crash-associated syncope and 852 of 9,160 controls with syncope alone experienced a subsequent crash as a driver (crash risk 21% versus 9%). After accounting for censoring and potential confounders, crash-associated syncope was not associated with a significant increase in the risk of subsequent crash (adjusted hazard ratio [aHR] 1.38, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.78 to 2.47). Individuals with crash-associated syncope were 31-fold more likely to have physician driving advice documented during their index visit (prevalence ratio 31.0, 95% CI, 21.3 to 45.1). In the subgroup without documented driving advice, crash-associated syncope was associated with a significant increase in subsequent crash risk (aHR 1.88, 95% CI 1.06 to 3.36).ConclusionsCrash risk after crash-associated syncope appears similar to crash risk after syncope alone.Copyright © 2023 American College of Emergency Physicians. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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