Different patterns of orthostatic hypotension in older patients with unexplained falls or syncope: orthostatic hypotension patterns in older people.

Abstract

To evaluate different patterns of orthostatic hypotension (OH) and its relation to mortality in older patients with unexplained falls or syncope. This is an observational cohort study in consecutive patients aged ≥ 65years with unexplained falls or syncope at a Fall Syncope day clinic November 2011 until May 2016. OH is defined as a decrease in systolic blood pressure (BP) ≥ 20mmHg and/or in diastolic BP ≥ 10mmHg during standing test. Main outcomes are the baseline characteristics and prevalence of patients with classical OH (decrease BP until 3min), delayed OH (decrease of BP from 5 to 10min) and continuous OH (decrease of BP for 10min). Secondary outcome is the relation between different OH patterns and mortality. Of 374 patients with a mean age of 80year (SD 6.6), 56% of the patients had OH: 16% had classical OH, 8% delayed OH, 32% had continuous OH and 44% had no OH. Patients with continuous OH and patients with delayed OH tended to have a higher mortality compared to patients with classical OH, 14 vs. 5% (P = 0.07) and 17 vs. 5% (P = 0.06). This possible relation between OH patterns and mortality could not be confirmed in multivariate analysis. In these very old patients, there are various patterns of decline in standing BP. Delayed and continuous OH will be missed if BP is measured only for 3min during standing. This is important because patients with continuous OH and delayed OH might have a relation with mortality. Our results encourage additional studies investigating the relation between different OH patterns and mortality.