1826 – State and trait anxiety in young women with vasovagal syncope

Abstract

The aim of the study was to assess the state and trait anxiety in women with vasovagal syncope. The study group consisted of 50 women referred to tilt testing with finally diagnosis of vasovagal syncope and 166 women from general population: 115 women who have never experienced faints (control negative group), 51 women who reported at least one faint episode (control positive group). All women were aged 21-40 years old. Women filled State and Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI), the women from study group just before tilt testing after the whole procedure explanation. No one asked woman refused STAI completion or tilt testing. The STAI results were presented as raw results and trichotomized into lower than average, average and higher than average. The raw result of STAI as a state was significantly higher in the study group (41.6 ± 9.8) than in the both control groups (37.6 ± 10.6 and 39.8 ± 10.5) p< 0.05. The raw results of STAI as a trait did not differ among groups (respectively 41.3 ± 8.7 vs 40.4 ± 9.4 vs 42.3 ± 8.8 p=NS). The occurrence of lower than average trait anxiety was significantly lower in study (36.0%) and control positive group (37.3%) than in the control negative group (56.5%) p< 0.05. The percentage of women with higher than average trait anxiety did not differ. 1. High trait anxiety seems not be related to the occurrence of vasovagal syncope. 2. Lower than average trait anxiety may play protective function of vasovagal syncope occurrence.