Poor health-related quality of life in postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome in comparison with a sex- and age-matched normative population

This study found that Australians with Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS) experience significantly worse health-related quality of life across multiple domains compared to age- and sex-matched healthy individuals. Key predictors for this reduced quality of life in POTS patients included severity of orthostatic intolerance, female sex, fatigue scores, and a comorbid diagnosis of myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome. While the findings highlight a substantial burden, the normative population data used for comparison was collected almost a decade prior to the POTS data.

Dr. Dennis H. Lau reports that the University of Adelaide has received on his behalf lecture and/or consulting fees from Abbott Medical, Biotronik, Medtronic, and MicroPort CRM. These are medical device companies, which represents a potential conflict of interest.

This is a strong study addressing an important gap in understanding HrQoL in POTS patients using robust methodology like propensity matching and a validated instrument. The authors transparently disclose several significant limitations, particularly the temporal mismatch of control data and the potential for selection bias. Despite these, the clear findings provide valuable new insights into the burden of POTS.