Clinical Pediatrics
Volume 48 Number 8
October 2009 834-836
© 2009 The Author(s)
10.1177/0009922809339204
Hair-Grooming Syncope in Children
Authors
William N Evans, MD, Ruben
Acherman, MD, Katrinka Kip, MD, Humberto Restrepo, MD, MPH
Source
ChildrenŐs Heart Center
Nevada, 3006 S Maryland Pkwy, Ste 690, Las Vegas, Nevada, 89109,USA. Email: wnevans50@aol.com.
Abstract
Objectives. This
report describes children under going pediatric cardiology evaluation for syncope
in which a hair-grooming trigger was determined as the stimulus.
Methods. A review
of our database revealed 1525 patients with syncope seen by our program of whom
111 had a hair-grooming trigger determined as a cause.
Results. Of the 111
patients, 78% were girls. We found characteristic difference between boys and
girls with boys experiencing syncope more during hair cutting whereas girls
experienced syncope more during hair combing and brushing. Electrocardiograms
and echocardiograms were performed as part of syncope evaluation and no
significant abnormalities were found in either test in this patient group.
Conclusions. This is
the largest reported group of children presenting with syncope that had a
hair-grooming trigger. Our data also include the first series of boys with the condition.
The hair-grooming trigger appears to stimulate a benign form of neurocardiogenic reflex syncope.