Newsroom

When is fainting a sign of a bigger problem?


July 4, 2016



Researchers develop new screening tool to help emergency physicians

A simple nine-question tool could help emergency physicians uncover the dangerous hidden conditions that make some people faint, according to a study published today in the Canadian Medical Association Journal.

Fainting is fairly common - 35 to 40 percent of people faint at least once in their lives. But for about ten percent of people who visit the emergency room for fainting it can be a symptom of a potentially life-threatening condition like arrhythmia, or heart rhythm disturbance.

A team of researchers at The Ottawa Hospital and the University of Ottawa have created a screening tool to help emergency doctors predict the risk of a patient experiencing adverse events from these hidden conditions within a month of fainting. These include irregular heartbeat, heart attacks and even death. If the risk is high, then doctors would do a thorough evaluation in the hospital before sending the patient home.

“Fainting is a big problem,” said Dr. Venkatesh Thiruganasambandamoorthy, an emergency physician and scientist at The Ottawa Hospital and an assistant professor at the University of Ottawa. “The way fainting patients are examined in emergency rooms varies greatly between physicians and hospitals. We hope that this screening tool will make the process more consistent and improve the detection of serious conditions related to fainting.”

Dr. Thiruganasambandamoorthy also notes that most fainting patients admitted to hospital do not need to be there. These patients can spend four to seven hours in the emergency department before a decision to discharge them is made. “If our tool can discharge low-risk patients quickly and safely, then I think we can reduce emergency room wait times and open up those resources to other patients,” said Dr. Thiruganasambandamoorthy.

Of the 4,030 fainting patients his team observed across six Canadian emergency rooms, 147 suffered a serious event in the month after discharge. This is largest study of its kind in the world.

After following up with patients and analyzing clinical findings from emergency doctors, Dr. Thiruganasambandamoorthy and his team found nine factors that physicians can plug into a screening tool. Added together, these factors give the patient’s total risk of an adverse event, from very low to very high.

These factors include:

• The physician’s diagnosis of the cause of fainting

• Signs of a common and harmless variety of fainting, such as being in a warm or crowded place, standing for a long time, or feeling intense fear, emotion or pain

• A history of heart disease

• Abnormal electrocardiogram (ECG) measurements

• Higher levels of troponin, a protein specific to heart muscle

This study was funded by Physicians Services Incorporated Foundation, Canadian Institutes of Health Research and Ontario Innovation Fund and The Ottawa Hospital Foundation.

The tool is currently being validated in emergency rooms across Canada in a study funded by the Canadian Arrhythmia Network of Canada. Once validation is complete, Dr. Thiruganasambandamoorthy hopes to make the tool available online and as an app.

Full reference: Development of the Canadian Syncope Risk Score to predict serious adverse events after emergency department assessment of syncope. Venkatesh Thiruganasambandamoorthy, Kenneth Kwong, George A. Wells, Marco L. A. Sivilotti, Muhammad Mukarram , Brian H. Rowe, Eddy Lang , Jeffrey J. Perry, Robert Sheldon, Ian G. Stiell, Monica Taljaard. Canadian Association Medical Journal. July 4, 2016.


Video: Dr. Thiruganasambandamoorthy speaking about what motivates his research.


About The Ottawa Hospital: Inspired by research. Driven by compassion. The Ottawa Hospital is one of Canada’s largest learning and research hospitals with over 1,100 beds, approximately 12,000 staff and an annual budget of over $1.2 billion. Our focus on research and learning helps us develop new and innovative ways to treat patients and improve care. As a multi-campus hospital, affiliated with the University of Ottawa, we deliver specialized care to the Eastern Ontario region, but our techniques and research discoveries are adopted around the world. We engage the community at all levels to support our vision for better patient care. See www.ohri.ca for more information about research at The Ottawa Hospital.


About the University of Ottawa: The University of Ottawa is home to over 50,000 students, faculty and staff, who live, work and study in both French and English. Our campus is a crossroads of cultures and ideas, where bold minds come together to inspire game-changing ideas. We are one of Canada’s top 10 research universities—our professors and researchers explore new approaches to today’s challenges. One of a handful of Canadian universities ranked among the top 200 in the world, we attract exceptional thinkers and welcome diverse perspectives from across the globe. www.uottawa.ca


Media Contact: Amelia Buchanan, Senior Communication Specialist, Ottawa Hospital Research Institute; ambuchanan@ohri.ca; Office: 613-798-5555 x 73687; Cell: 613-297-8315