Skip Navigation


Europace Advance Access originally published online on August 18, 2006
Europace 2006 8(10):846-851; doi:10.1093/europace/eul092
This Article
Right arrow Full Text Freely available
Right arrow FREE Full Text (PDF) Freely available
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
8/10/846    most recent
eul092v1
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in ISI Web of Science
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Lucas, K. E.
Right arrow Articles by Rowe, P. C.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Lucas, K. E.
Right arrow Articles by Rowe, P. C.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

© The European Society of Cardiology 2006. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

SYNCOPE

Familial aggregation of fainting in a case–control study of neurally mediated hypotension patients who present with unexplained chronic fatigue

Katherine E. Lucas1,3,*, Haroutune K. Armenian1, Gloria M. Petersen2 and Peter C. Rowe3

1 Department of Epidemiology, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, 615 N. Wolfe Street, E6148, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA; 2 Division of Epidemiology, Department of Health Sciences Research, Mayo Clinic College of Medicine, 200 First Street, SW, Rochester, MN 55905, USA; 3 Department of Pediatrics, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Brady 212, 600 N. Wolfe Street, Baltimore, MD 21287, USA

Aims We hypothesized that family history of fainting is a risk factor for adult-onset neurally mediated hypotension (NMH) in patients who present with chronic fatigue rather than fainting.

Methods and results A nested case–control study of Gulf War veterans gathered fainting histories directly from 197 first-degree relatives of 16 fatigued NMH cases, 26 fatigued controls, and 17 healthy controls. NMH status was determined by tilt testing. Female relatives of fatigued controls reported more fainting than female relatives of cases (P<0.01); there were no significant differences in the frequency of fainting in male relatives by case or control status, or in either gender by age at first faint or by familial relationship to the proband. The odds of NMH patients giving any family history of fainting were 0.56 (95% CI 0.15, 2.07). Recurrence risks calculated using lifetime prevalences of fainting in male military personnel of similar age to our participants were low (1.5–1.7) and did not differ by case or control status.

Conclusion Family history of fainting is not a risk factor for adult-onset NMH in fatigued veterans. Our findings may differ from other studies of familial aggregation in NMH because of study methods or because NMH-fatiguers may differ from NMH-fainters.

Key Words: Fatigue, Heredity, Gulf War syndrome, Vasovagal syncope

* Corresponding author. Tel: +1 410 955 8720; fax: +1 410 614 8883. E-mail address: kalucas{at}jhmi.edu


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?




Disclaimer:
Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.