Calgary researchers are trying to pinpoint the causes of fainting and are looking for people who are prone to passing out to take part in a study.

Syncope is the medical term for fainting and between 35 to 40 percent of Canadians under age 60 are affected. Some have one or two isolated episodes but for others it happens more regularly.

“Only humans faint and for some of our patients it’s a big problem. Most people, the fainters sort of faint off and on throughout their lives, it’s not usually a one-time thing but on the average, its about three times in a lifetime. But for the ones who see us, it’s 10 or 20 times before they see us and they’re usually only in their thirties and often in the year before it’s five or six times so it’s very common, it’s a big problem for them,” said Dr. Robert Sheldon, cardiologist.

The sudden loss of consciousness can result in injury and for some, daily activities can also be impacted.

“They have problems with jobs, driving, they get hurt, problems in school, a lot of problems, so the question is, how do you stop this? And we don’t really have any good treatments right now,” said Dr. Sheldon.

Many drugs have been tested to treat syncope but most are inadequate because doctors don’t fully understand why some people faint and others don’t.

Research over the years has shown that fainting could have genetic origins so scientists in Calgary were inspired to launch a study into the genetic susceptibility to syncope.

“The study is trying to figure out what it is that’s going on in the brain that allows people to faint, that triggers the faint,” said Sheldon, “Most fainters have one or two faints when they’re in their teens and then some have fainted a bunch of times in their teens and lots of them do nothing for decades and then they start and it’s like a switch is thrown. They start, they faint a bunch of times over months to years and then the switch is thrown again, boom, and they stop and what those switches are, we don’t know. It would be good to know because if we can just work on the switch and stop it or find a way to turn them off that would be great, but it’s a mystery.”

The study will compare the genes of 1000 people who faint with the same size sample of people who don’t.

“People have always got this sense that it runs in families, often it doesn’t, but for some families, absolutely it does. So that gave really solid evidence that there’s something going on,” said Sheldon. “What we do is we collect DNA from 1000 fainters and 1000 non-fainters and then we know where all their little beads are and we see which beads are more common in fainters than in non-fainters and that will get us going on at least where to look, what proteins, what reflexes in the brain allow you to faint.”

So far, 800 people have signed up for the study but researchers are still looking for 200 more to complete their data collection.

To take part in the study call Cindy Eronmwon at 403-220-8897 or email coeronmw@ucalgary.ca