BACKROUND Valid predictors of the recurrence of syncope in vasovagal syncope(VVS) patients with a positive head-up tilt test (HUTT) are currently lacking. The goal of this study was to identify the predictive performance of age for the recurrence of syncope in VVS patients with a positive HUTT.METHODS in total, 175 VVS patients with a positive HUTT were followed for 6 to 32 months, and ≥1 syncope episodes during follow-up was considered the recurrence of syncope. The study population was

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... into 2 groups, namely, a recurrence of syncope group (44 patients) and a no recurrence of syncope group (131 patients). The baseline clinical data, hemodynamic parameters and classification of the vasovagal syncope on the HUTT were analyzed. Logistics regression was used to analyze the effect size and confidence interval of age. A receiver operating characteristic(ROC) analysis was used to assess the predictive performance and investigate the predictive value of age by the area under the curve (AUC).RESULTS The age of recurrence of syncope group 60.0 (47.8, 66.0) years was older than that of no recurrence of syncope group 53.0 (43.0, 62.0) years, and there was a significant difference between the two groups (P < 0.05). The trend of syncope recurrence changed with age and the logistics regression model adjusted by sex showed that the elder was an increased risk of syncope recurrence in VVS with positive HUTT [OR value: 1.03, 95% confidence interval(CI) 1.008 to 1.061 p < 0.05].Age was a valid predictor for the recurrence of syncope in VVS patients with a positive HUTT (AUC: 0.688; 95%CI 0.598 to 0.777 p < 0.05). The cut-off value was 53.5 years, and the sensitivity and specificity were 72.7% and 52.7%, respectively.