Internal and emergency medicine
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Letter Case Reports
ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction after drowning.
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Current data suggest that up to 60 % of patients presenting to the emergency department with syncope leave the hospital without a defined etiology. Prior studies suggest a prevalence of psychiatric disease as high as 26 % in patients with syncope of unknown etiology. The objective of this study was to determine whether psychiatric disease is associated with an increased incidence of syncope of unknown etiology. ⋯ However, among women with syncope of unknown etiology, there was no significant difference between those with and without psychiatric disease (34.4 vs. 32.7 %) with p = 0.77. Our results suggest that men with psychiatric disease have an increased incidence of syncope of unknown etiology. Given this relationship, clinicians might consider screening for psychiatric disorders in syncopal patients when no clear etiology can be identified.