TY - JOUR
T1 - Association between psychological complaints and recurrence of vasovagal syncope
AU - Romme, Jacobus J. C. M.
AU - van Dijk, Nynke
AU - Go-Schön, Ingeborg K.
AU - Casteelen, Gerty
AU - Wieling, Wouter
AU - Reitsma, Johannes B.
PY - 2011
Y1 - 2011
N2 - Vasovagal syncope (VVS), the most common cause of transient loss of consciousness (T-LOC), is often accompanied by higher levels of psychological distress. We investigated to what extent psychological complaints interact with the effects of non-pharmacological treatment in patients with frequently recurring VVS. Patients with ≥3 episodes of VVS in the 2 years prior to the start of the study openly received non-pharmacological treatment. Before treatment initiation, we determined the level of general psychological complaints by the Symptom Checklist 90-R (SCL-90-R) questionnaire. We regularly evaluated syncopal recurrence during follow-up. We compared the SCL-90-R scores of VVS patients in our study with the corresponding scores of healthy Dutch subjects (reference population). We examined whether patients with more recurrences during follow-up had higher SCL-90-R scores at baseline and whether this association changed when adjusting for other factors associated with recurrence using logistic regression. Total SCL-90-R scores were higher in our cohort of patients with frequent episodes of VVS than in the reference population (142 vs. 118; p < 0.001). During the first 6 months of treatment, 42% of patients experienced syncopal recurrence(s). The SCL-90-R scores of these patients were significantly higher compared with patients without syncopal recurrence in this period (160 vs. 130; p = 0.01). After adjusting for other predictors of recurrence, especially the number of episodes before inclusion, the association between SCL-90-R scores and recurrence remained intact. Levels of general psychological complaints are higher in patients with syncopal recurrence during non-pharmacological treatment of VVS, even after adjusting for previous syncopal episodes
AB - Vasovagal syncope (VVS), the most common cause of transient loss of consciousness (T-LOC), is often accompanied by higher levels of psychological distress. We investigated to what extent psychological complaints interact with the effects of non-pharmacological treatment in patients with frequently recurring VVS. Patients with ≥3 episodes of VVS in the 2 years prior to the start of the study openly received non-pharmacological treatment. Before treatment initiation, we determined the level of general psychological complaints by the Symptom Checklist 90-R (SCL-90-R) questionnaire. We regularly evaluated syncopal recurrence during follow-up. We compared the SCL-90-R scores of VVS patients in our study with the corresponding scores of healthy Dutch subjects (reference population). We examined whether patients with more recurrences during follow-up had higher SCL-90-R scores at baseline and whether this association changed when adjusting for other factors associated with recurrence using logistic regression. Total SCL-90-R scores were higher in our cohort of patients with frequent episodes of VVS than in the reference population (142 vs. 118; p < 0.001). During the first 6 months of treatment, 42% of patients experienced syncopal recurrence(s). The SCL-90-R scores of these patients were significantly higher compared with patients without syncopal recurrence in this period (160 vs. 130; p = 0.01). After adjusting for other predictors of recurrence, especially the number of episodes before inclusion, the association between SCL-90-R scores and recurrence remained intact. Levels of general psychological complaints are higher in patients with syncopal recurrence during non-pharmacological treatment of VVS, even after adjusting for previous syncopal episodes
U2 - https://doi.org/10.1007/s10286-011-0125-7
DO - https://doi.org/10.1007/s10286-011-0125-7
M3 - Article
C2 - 21547606
SN - 0959-9851
VL - 21
SP - 373
EP - 380
JO - CLINICAL AUTONOMIC RESEARCH
JF - CLINICAL AUTONOMIC RESEARCH
IS - 6
ER -