Duke Medicine: When children faint

When a child or teen faints, especially at school and in the presence of peers, it is often very upsetting to other children and can be a source of great embarrassment to the child who has fainted.

There are many causes of syncope -- the medical term for fainting -- in the young, and happily, most do not represent a life-threatening condition.

But less common -- and far more dangerous -- conditions may first show themselves as syncope. Because of this, children who have fainted need to be seen by a health care professional to rule out serious causes and to recommend therapy to limit or eliminate further fainting events.