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Risk stratification for patients with syncope is difficult and clinicians currently lack a useful prediction tool (NEJM JW Emerg Med 2019 Feb 1; [e-pub] and Circulation 2019 Jan 21; [e-pub]). Given the association of syncope with cardiac disease, dysfunction, and mortality, cardiac biomarkers have been proposed as potential tools for risk stratification in syncope.
Researchers conducted a secondary analysis of an observational study of nearly 3400 patients aged ≥60 years who presented to one of 11 emergency departments with syncope or near syncope. Patients were tested for high-sensitivity troponin (hs-TnT) and natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP), but the results were not available to treating physicians. Overall, 10.8% of patients experienced t…