Risk of syncope during work

Abstract

Little is known regarding the overall prevalence of syncope in a population of workers and the risk of occurrence during working time. A total of 452 consecutive workers (mean age: 46 ± 9 years) were invited to answer an anonymous questionnaire. They had been employed for 22 ± 10 years for a total of 9765 years worked. In the cohort, 160 subjects (35%) reported a total of 465 episodes of syncope during their lives; 64 (14%) suffered a syncopal episode after the start of employment, but only 26 (5.7%) reported syncope at work, 7 (1.5%) having had 2 episodes, and 1 (0.2%) 3 episodes (total: 36 episodes). The risk of syncope during work was 4.6 times higher for those who had a prior history of syncope [18 of 138 (13%)] than for those who did not [8 of 314 (3%), P = 0.001]. The occurrence of syncope during work for the patients with a history of syncope was one syncopal episode in every 99 years worked and for those who had already had an episode during work, one episode in every 16 years worked. Only one patient experienced minor trauma as a consequence of syncope during work and three were referred to the emergency department. All patients continued their employment without any problems. The prevalence of syncope during work is low and its impact is benign. The probability of syncope during work is higher for subjects with a history of syncope.