Significant characteristics of variant angina patients with associated syncope.

To determine whether syncope predisposes to sudden cardiac death, variant angina patients with syncope during cardiac attacks were compared with those without syncope. There were 240 consecutive patients (193 males and 47 females) diagnosed with variant angina pectoris. Thirty patients had a history of syncope during cardiac attacks while the remaining 210 had none. The incidence of cardiac events in the former group was 10.0% (3 of 30) and 10.5% in the latter. There were 3 cases of sudden cardiac death, all in the latter group. Significant clinical variables in the syncope patients included inferior ST-segment elevation and serious arrhythmias. We conclude that there is no relationship between syncope during variant angina and sudden cardiac death.