Early standardized clinical judgement for syncope diagnosis in the emergency department. J Intern Med 2021; Background. The diagnosis of cardiac syncope remains a challenge in the emergency department (ED).Objective. Assessing the diagnostic accuracy of the early standardized clinical judgement (ESCJ) including a standardized syncope-specific case report form (CRF) in comparison with a recommended multivariable diagnostic score.Methods. In a prospective international observational multicentre study, diagnostic accuracy for cardiac syncope of ESCJ by the ED physician amongst patients ≥ 40 years presenting with syncope to the ED was directly compared with that of the Evaluation of Guidelines in Syncope Study (EGSYS) diagnostic score. Cardiac syncope was centrally adjudicated independently of the ESCJ or conducted workup by two ED specialists based on all information available up to 1-year follow-up. Secondary aims included direct comparison with high-sensitivity cardiac troponin I (hs-cTnI) and B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP) concentrations and a Lasso regression to identify variables contributing most to ESCJ.Results. Cardiac syncope was adjudicated in 252/ 1494 patients (15.2%). The diagnostic accuracy of ESCJ for cardiac syncope as quantified by the area under the curve (AUC) was 0.87 (95% CI: 0.84-0.89), and higher compared with the EGSYS diagnostic score (0.73 (95% CI: 0.70-0.76)), hs-cTnI (0.77 (95% CI: 0.73-0.80)) and BNP (0.77 (95% CI: 0.74-0.80)), all P < 0.001. Both biomarkers (alone or in combination) on top of the ESCJ significantly improved diagnostic accuracy. Conclusion.ESCJ including a standardized syncopespecific CRF has very high diagnostic accuracy and outperforms the EGSYS score, hs-cTnI and BNP.

AIMS Obese patients have lower natriuretic peptide concentrations. We hypothesized that adjusting the concentration of N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) for obesity could further increase its clinical utility in the early diagnosis of acute heart failure (AHF). METHODS AND RESULTS This hypothesis was tested in a prospective diagnostic study enrolling unselected patients presenting to the emergency department with acute dyspnoea. Two independent cardiologists/internists centrally adjudicated the final diagnosis using all individual patient information including cardiac imaging. NT-proBNP plasma concentrations were applied: first, using currently recommended cut-offs; second, using cut-offs lowered by 33% with body mass index (BMI) of 30-34.9 kg/m 2 and by 50% with BMI 35 kg/m 2 . Among 2038 patients, 509 (25%) were obese, of which 271 (53%) had AHF. The diagnostic accuracy of NT-proBNP as quantified by the area under the receiver-operating characteristic curve was lower in obese versus non-obese patients (0.890 vs. 0.938). For rapid AHF rule-out in obese patients, the currently recommended cut-off of 300 pg/ml achieved a sensitivity of 96.7% (95% confidence interval [CI] 93.8-98.2%), ruling out 29% of patients and missing 9 AHF patients. For rapid AHF rule-in, the age-dependent cut-off concentrations (age <50 years: 450 pg/ml; age 50-75 years: 900 pg/ml; age >75 years: 1800 pg/ml) achieved a specificity of 84.9% (95% CI 79.8-88.9%). Proportionally lowering the currently recommended cut-offs by BMI increased sensitivity to 98.2% (95% CI 95.8-99.2%), missing 5 AHF patients; reduced the proportion of AHF patients remaining in the 'gray zone' (48% vs. 26%; p = 0.002), achieving a specificity of 76.5% (95% CI 70.7-81.4%). CONCLUSIONS Adjusting NT-proBNP concentrations for obesity seems to further increase its clinical utility in the early diagnosis of AHF.

Acute heart failure (AHF) is a complex and heterogeneous syndrome not only associated with a concerning rise in incidence, but also with still unacceptably high rates of mortality and morbidity. As this dismal outcome is at least in part due to a mismatch between the severity of AHF and the intensity of its management, both in-hospital and immediately after discharge, early and accurate risk prediction could contribute to more effective, risk-adjusted management. Biomarkers are noninvasive and highly reproducible quantitative tools that have improved the understanding of AHF pathophysiology. They can help guide the intensity of AHF management. In addition, using a statistical model to estimate risk from a combination of several predictor variables such as vital signs or demographics has gained more and more attention over recent years. In this context, the aim of a statistical model, which gives a so-called risk score, is to help clinicians to make more standardised decisions. This review highlights recent advances and remaining uncertainties regarding risk stratification in AHF by characterising and comparing the potential of biomarkers and risk scores.

Background Management and risk stratification of patients with syncope in the emergency department (ED) is often challenging. In an effort to support ED physicians in disposition decisions, the Canadian Syncope Risk Score (CSRS) was developed to predict 30-day serious outcomes. Methods The CSRS was developed in a Canadian multicenter study and contains nine predictors: predisposition to vasovagal syncope, heart disease, systolic pressure &lt;90 or &gt;180mmHg in the ED, troponin level &gt;99th percentile, abnormal QRS axis, QRS duration &gt;130ms, QTc interval &gt;480ms and an ED diagnosis of vasovagal or cardiac syncope. Patients can achieve a CSRS score between −3 and +11 points. We validated the CSRS in a large prospective international multicenter study recruiting patients 40 years or older presenting to the ED with a syncopal event within the last 12 hours. Recruitment centers contained smaller provincial hospitals, as well as big University Hospitals in eight countries on three continents. Primary outcome measure were 30-day serious arrhythmic and non-arrhythmic adverse events, as defined by the authors of the original score. Results 1581 patients were eligible for this analysis. The population in this validation cohort was older (mean age 68 vs 54 years) and had a considerably higher rate of serious outcomes compared to the derivation cohort (n=186 (11.8%) vs n=147 (3.6%)). The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) for the CSRS was 0.88 (95% confidence interval (CI) 0.86–0.91) and significantly higher compared to the validated OESIL score (AUC 0.75, 95% CI 0.71–0.78, p&lt;0.001). Calibration curve analysis showed an underestimation of risk in patients with a low CSRS and an overestimation in patients with a high CSRS. The rate of observed serious outcomes within 30d increased from 0.8% in the very low risk group (CSRS equal to or below −2) to 48% in the (very) high risk group (CSRS equal to or above 4, Hazard ratio 79.4, 95% CI 11.1–570.9). A Kaplan-Meier plot was used to visualize rates of serious outcomes in three different risk groups (Figure). Conclusion This is the first validation of the Canadian Syncope Risk Score in a large international syncope cohort. The prognostic discrimination of the CSRS for 30-day serious outcomes was very good in our validation cohort and comparable to that of the Canadian derivation study. Despite suboptimal calibration, prognostic analysis showed a high rate of serious outcomes in the CSRS (very) high risk group and a low rate of serious outcomes in the very low risk group. Allowing the clinical judgement of the ED physician in the form of suspected syncope etiology to be a part of the score seems to largely contribute to the high performance of the CSRS. Additional validation studies might be needed to further increase the accuracy of the CSRS in different patient populations with a different incidence of outcomes in settings outside of Canada. Figure 1 Funding Acknowledgement Type of funding source: Public grant(s) – National budget only. Main funding source(s): Swiss National Science Foundation; Swiss Heart Foundation