RETRACTED: Syncope in adults with pulmonary arterial hypertension.

Abstract

This article has been retracted: please see Elsevier Policy on Article Withdrawal (http://www.elsevier.com/locate/withdrawalpolicy). This article has been retracted at the request of the authors, because of a data entry error which is fundamental to the study findings. As background, this was a clinical study where a specific variable was tested in a large database. The process involved merging a variable (presence or absence of syncope) from one electronic source with an alternate electronic database of patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension and assessing associations and outcomes. In proceeding to design a follow-up study to this work Dr. Le, went back to the original source file to abstract new data. In doing this she identified a 'cut-and paste' error in which the column of syncope data was transferred incorrectly where syncope/no syncope variables were assigned to wrong subjects. This led to a critical error that then got carried forward and a fundamental misclassification of syncope in the final study group. This error fundamentally affects the results which now do not fully support the conclusions.