RT Book, Section
A1 Willis, Martha W.
A1 Wiseman, Amy L.
A1 McGill, Ashley
A1 Leonard, Karen
A1 Wilson, Heather
A1 Thomas, Cameron
A2 Hershey, Andrew D.
SR Print(0)
ID 1195237343
T1 Pediatric Syncope and Related Phenomena
T2 CURRENT Diagnosis & Treatment Pediatric Neurology
YR 2023
FD 2023
PB McGraw Hill Education
PP New York, NY
SN 9781260457520
LK neurology.mhmedical.com/content.aspx?aid=1195237343
RD 2024/04/19
AB Syncope  is  a  relatively  sudden,  brief,  self-limited  loss  of  postural  tone  and  consciousness  followed  by  rapid  spontaneous  recovery  without  any  neurologic  sequelae.1-3  Syncope  is  a  common  pediatric  problem,  representing  1%  to  3%  of  all  pediatric  emergency  department  (ED)  visits  and  6%  of  hospital  admissions.  It  has  an  estimated  population  incidence  of  10%  to  15%.4,5  In  children  and  adolescents,  syncope  is  substantially  more  common  in  females  (65.6%  female,  34.4%  male).  Although  syncope  can  occur  in  any  demographic  group  throughout  the  world,  in  North  America,  those  who  seek  medical  care  for  this  complaint  are  more  likely  to  be  White  and  have  private  insurance.1,5,6  For  instance,  one  study  found  that  54%  of  pediatric  syncope  patients  presenting  to  an  East  Coast  ED  were  White,  whereas  22%  were  Latino,  16%  were  Black,  and  2%  were  Asian.7  Of  these  pediatric  ED  patients,  68%  had  private  primary  insurance  and  32%  had  public  insurance.7  Syncope,  although  not  a  serious  illness  and  typically  benign  in  etiology,  can  have  high  healthcare  costs.  In  a  study  of  one  cohort,  pediatric  syncope  accounted  for  $1.1  million  dollars  of  testing  over  a  2-year  period,  with  an  average  cost  of  $2488  per  patient.1  Much  of  this  testing  was  unnecessary  due  to  the  benign  nature  of  syncope.  In  addition  to  being  common  and  having  high  healthcare  costs,  syncope  deserves  attention  because  it  significantly  impacts  quality  of  life.  Pediatric  syncope  patients  are  known  to  have  Pediatric  Quality  of  Life  Inventory  total  scores  as  low  as  children  and  adolescents  with  other  chronic  illnesses  such  as  diabetes,  asthma,  obesity,  and  end-stage  renal  disease.6,8-10