Original ArticleQuality of Life in Patients With Postural Tachycardia Syndrome
Section snippets
PATIENTS AND METHODS
Study participants were recruited through the Mayo Clinic Autonomic Disorders Laboratory. All patients had a complete general medical and neurologic evaluation and a full autonomic reflex laboratory evaluation before participating in the study. Inclusion criteria were as follows: (1) men or women age 18 years or older; (2) sustained heart rate increment of 30 beats/min or greater within 5 minutes of head-up tilt; and (3) symptoms of orthostatic intolerance, including weakness, light-headedness,
Sample Characteristics
Of the 113 questionnaires returned, 19 (17%) were excluded from analyses because the participants did not meet full inclusion criteria. An additional 25 participants had a heart rate increment of 30 beats/min or more but did not sustain a heart rate of at least 120 beats/min throughout the tilt. These participants were compared to the rest of the sample on all the variables of interest. Results of Mann-Whitney U tests revealed no significant differences on any of the study measures except for 1
DISCUSSION
To our knowledge, this study is the first to quantify the degree of functional impairment in patients with POTS. Patients reported clear limitations in several domains of functioning, particularly energy level and role functioning. In our sample, reported functioning was comparable to that of patients with COPD or CHF, 2 chronic, symptomatic conditions generally present in a much older patient population. The average patient with POTS is a young, highly educated, previously healthy woman2 (mean
CONCLUSIONS
This study is the first to our knowledge that systematically investigates quality of life in a well-characterized sample of patients with POTS. Results show that these patients experience significant limitations across several domains of quality of life, including physical, social, and role functioning. Health care practitioners must recognize the multiple impairments that often accompany POTS and address not only the physical aspects of the condition but also the social ones. More research is
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This study was supported in part by grants PPG NS3 2352 and HD07447 from the National Institutes of Health.