An evaluation of falls, syncope, and dizziness by prolonged ambulatory cardiographic monitoring in a geriatric institutional setting.

Fifty-nine patients living in a geriatric residential setting underwent prolonged ambulatory cardiographic monitoring with the Holter monitor (AHM) as part of an investigation of falls, dizziness, and syncope. In 16 instances, cardiac arrhythmias were a contributing factor; in 12, the diagnostic AHM recordings were associated with unrevealing standard electrocardiographic (ECG) tracings. In 12 patients who had fallen, cardiac arrhythmias played a contributing role, but in only two of these cases was the ECG diagnostic. The value of the AHM for use in managing elderly patients, whose cardiac complaints may be vague, and especially in managing those who have sustained falls, is emphasized.