Journal of general internal medicine
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To describe the etiologies of syncope in hospitalized patients and determine the factors that influence survival after discharge. ⋯ Among these elderly patients hospitalized with syncope, noncardiovascular causes were twice as common as cardiovascular causes. Because survival was not related to the cause of syncope, clinicians cannot be reassured that hospitalized elderly patients with noncardiovascular and unexplained syncope will have excellent outcomes.