An Association between Anxiety and Neurocardiogenic Syncope

Background Neurally mediated syncope is the most common cause of syncope. Patients with neurally mediated syncope sometimes experience stress from recurrent syncopal episode. The aim of this study is to evaluate the degree of anxiety and depression in patients with neurally mediated syncope. Method: A total 87 of neurally mediated syncope patients (59.1% female, mean age 38.81 ± 14.06) completed the hospital anxiety and depression scale (HADS) from January to December 2009. The patient were divided into tilt positive (n=66) and negative group (n=21). Other cause such as cardiogenic syncope and orthostatic hypotension were excluded from the study. HADS scores were divided into nonsignificant (07) and significant (8-21) to assess the degree of anxiety and depression. Result: There was no difference in gender and age between tilt positive (n=66) and negative group(n=21). Significant anxiety score was more frequently found in patient with tilt negative than positive group (42.9% vs16.7%, P>0.01), whereas the significant depression score was similar in both groups (27.3% vs 23.8%). The anxiety and depression score were higher in patients with frequent episode of syncope than those with infrequent syncope (4.48±3.14 vs 6.27± 4.79, P>0.05; 5.0±3.25 vs 6.46 ±3.57, P>0.05) Conclusion: The tilt negative response and more frequency of syncopal episode in neurally mediated syncope patients might be associated with higher anxiety and depression score.