Hospitalization after fainting can do more harm than good

One morning not long ago, my teenage daughter started to black out. After an ambulance ride to our local hospital’s emergency department, an electrocardiogram, and some bloodwork, she was sent home with a follow-up doctor appointment. We got the good news that Alexa is perfectly healthy, but should avoid getting too hungry or thirsty so she doesn’t faint again. And I’m feeling lucky that she didn’t need to be hospitalized, because a research letter in this week’s JAMA Internal Medicine points out that hospitalization for low-risk fainting can do more harm than good. Doctors use something called the San Francisco Syncope Rule to identify individuals who are at low risk for serious short-term problems after fainting and who don’t need to be hospitalized. Yet up to one-third of fainters at low risk are still hospitalized. “Most patients in the U.S. are admitted even if they don’t need to be, because doctors worry there might be a life-threatening cause,” says Dr. Shamai Grossman, an associate professor of emergency medicine at Harvard Medical School, who’s conducted about 20 studies on fainting. The new research Researchers at Johns Hopkins University followed more than 200 people between the ages of 19 and 97 (average age of 61) who were admitted to the hospital for fainting, also called syncope (SIN-co-pee). This is the sudden loss of consciousness resulting from reduced blood flow to the brain, followed by spontaneous re...
Source: New Harvard Health Information - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tags: Health fainting San Francisco Syncope Rule Source Type: news