Syncope, Fear of Falling and Quality of Life Among Older Adults: Findings From the Irish Longitudinal Study on Aging (TILDA)

Frontiers in Cardiovascular Medicine

Román Romero Ortuño¹  Kevin McCarthy¹  Rose Anne Kenny¹  Mark Ward² 

[1] Mercer's Institute for Successful Ageing, St. James's Hospital, Dublin, Ireland;The Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing (TILDA), Department of Medical Gerontology, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland;

关键词: syncope;    quality of life;    TILDA;    CASP-12;    fear of falling (FOF);   

DOI  :  10.3389/fcvm.2020.00007

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

Objective: Syncope is a prevalent condition that has a marked impact on quality of life. We examined the association between syncope and quality of life (QoL) and whether this association was explained by fear of falling (FoF).Methods: We examined data from Wave 3 of The Irish Longitudinal Study on Aging (TILDA), of adults aged ≥50 years (n = 4,946) who were asked to report syncope and who completed the CASP-12 QoL instrument. Analyses were stratified by age and gender.Results: Over 20% of participants reported having a previous syncopal episode, while 8% reported a faint, blackout or unexplained fall in the last year. QoL scores decreased as the burden of syncope increased: linear regression models adjusted for covariates showed that those having had two or more syncopal episodes in the last year reported a significantly lower CASP-12 score compared to those with none (p = 0.011). FoF partially mediated the association between syncope and QoL, particularly among younger participants.Conclusions: Syncope is a common condition among older adults that has a deleterious effect on QoL, with ≥2 recent syncopal episodes having a particularly adverse impact on QoL. FoF is a potential pathway which may both explain this association and allow therapeutic interventions by health practitioners.

【 授权许可】

Unknown