Prevalence of cardioinhibitory carotid sinus hypersensitivity in patients 50 years or over presenting to the accident and emergency department with "unexplained" or "recurrent" falls.

To study the prevalence of Cardioinhibitory Carotid Sinus Hypersensitivity (CICSH) in patients 50 years or over presenting to casualty with "unexplained" or "recurrent" falls. The prospective study was from October 1, 1995 to April 30, 1996 in the Inner City Accident and Emergency Departments, Newcastle Upon Tyne, U.K. Ten thousand four hundred forty-three patients 50 years and over presented, of which 4,051 (39%) were fallers. Fallers were excluded if they lived over 15 miles from the hospital (81), were registered blind (17), were unable to speak English (22), were unable to previously walk (27), if there was a history of only one accidental fall (1,659) or were cognitively impaired (776: Mini Mental State Examination < 24 [30]) or if there was a clear attributable medical diagnosis for the fall (871). Five hundred ninety-eight "unexplained" or "recurrent" fallers (defined as three or more falls in the previous 12 months) were assessed for carotid sinus massage (CSM). One hundred forty-five patients declined CSM (24%), 70 (12%) had relative contraindications to CSM and 13 already had pacemakers in situ (2%). Two hundred seventy-nine underwent CSM, of whom 65 had CICSH (23%), which might be amenable to treatment with pacemakers. The prevalence of CICSH (a potentially treatable condition) in "unexplained" or "recurrent" fallers who present to the accident and emergency department is 23%. A randomized control study to assess benefit from pacemaker intervention in these patients is underway.