Orthostatic tolerance is difficult to predict in recurrent syncope patients

Abstract

We tested the hypothesis that detailed anthropometric and hemodynamic measurements predict orthostatic tolerance in neurally mediated syncope patients. In addition, we tested whether orthostatic tolerance is related to syncope frequency in real life. Earlier studies in patients with neurally mediated syncope suggested that orthostatic heart rate and blood pressure responses predict the tilt table responses with high sensitivity and specificity. We analyzed data from 157 consecutive patients (n=100 exploratory cohort, n=57 confirmatory cohort) with recurrent syncope in whom orthostatic tolerance was quantified as the time to (pre)syncope during head-up tilt testing combined with lower body negative pressure. We measured heart rate, brachial blood pressure, cardiac stroke volume, heart rate and blood pressure variability, and spontaneous baroreflex sensitivity supine and early during head-up tilt. The orthostatic heart rate increase showed the strongest correlation with orthostatic tolerance. The best multivariate model including age, supine diastolic blood pressure, supine blood pressure variability, as well as tilt-induced changes in diastolic blood pressure and heart rate explained no more that 40% of the variability in orthostatic tolerance. The model failed to predict orthostatic tolerance in the confirmatory cohort. Frequency or number of free-living syncopal episodes were only weakly related to orthostatic tolerance. In patients with neurally mediated syncope, orthostatic tolerance in the clinical laboratory is difficult to predict with a wide range of anthropometric and cardiovascular measurements and correlates poorly with syncope occurrence in real life.