Quality Of Life In Patients With Pots

[MightyMouse]

This article has been out for 7 years, but I am reposting it here b/c we've gotten so many new members in the past few months and I think many of you could benefit from reading it--it's a good basic article to give to family and doctors to explain that you *really do feel sick* often, and it's documented by Mayo's research.

-Happy reading-Nina

here's the abstract from pubmed/medline, and then look at the bottom for a full text link (free):

"Mayo Clin Proc. 2002 Jun;77(6):531-7.

Quality of life in patients with postural tachycardia syndrome.

Benrud-Larson LM, Dewar MS, Sandroni P, Rummans TA, Haythornthwaite JA, Low PA.

Department of Neurology, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN 55905, USA. benrudlarson.lisa@mayo.edu

OBJECTIVES: To quantify quality of life and identify demographic and clinical correlates of functioning in a well-characterized sample of patients with postural tachycardia syndrome (POTS). PATIENTS AND METHODS: Prospective patients were those seen at the Mayo Clinic Autonomic Disorders Laboratory from September 2000 to June 2001. Neurologists made diagnoses of POTS according to established criteria. Patients completed a questionnaire packet that included measures of quality of life (36-Item Short-Form Health Survey [sF-36]) and symptom severity (Autonomic Symptom Profile). Additional clinical information was abstracted from medical records. RESULTS: Ninety-four patients (89% female; mean age, 34.2 years) were enrolled in the study. Patients with POTS reported impairment across multiple domains on the SF-36. Physical functioning, role functioning, bodily pain, general health, vitality, and social functioning were all significantly impaired compared with a healthy population (P<.01 for all) and similar to that reported by patients with other chronic, disabling conditions. Hierarchical regression analyses revealed that symptom severity (beta = -.36, P<.001) and disability status (beta = -36, P<.001) were independent predictors of SF-36 physical component scores, with the full model accounting for 54% of the variance (P<.001). None of the variables examined accounted for a significant amount of the variance in SF-36 mental component scores. CONCLUSIONS: Patients with POTS experience clear limitations across multiple domains of quality of life, including physical, social, and role functioning. Treatment should address the multiple and varied impairments experienced by these patients and may require a multidisciplinary approach. Future research must further delineate factors, both disease related and psychosocial, that predict functioning and adjustment in this population.

PMID: 12059122 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]"

AND, the article's full text is available for FREE here:

http://www.mayoclinicproceedings.com/content/77/6/531.long

Nina

[dakota]

Thank you for this, Nina. This may also be helpful to bring along when applying for disability.

[MightyMouse]

My thoughts exactly... or to give to the doubting friends and relatives who think that you're just a slacker who likes staying home and likes having a zillion doctor appointments, medications, yada, yada, yada.

Nina

[ramakentesh]

There was another study that concluded that around 25% of patients with POTS were unable to work in any capacity because of their symptoms.

[MightyMouse]

Do you happen to know the authors? or journal? sometimes I can find them pretty quickly and some are free such as the above Mayo article.

[dakota]

I found this in an article by Grubb:

http://www.circ.ahajournals.org/cgi/content/full/117/21/2814

"Although it is difficult to determine the true prevalence of POTS, current estimates suggest that at least 500 000 patients are

affected by the disorder in the United States alone. Of this total, 25% are disabled and unable to work."

He is citing another article that I have not read yet (as I have to head off to work):

Goldstein D, Robertson D, Esler M, Straus S, Eisenhofer G. Dysautonomias: clinical disorders of the autonomic nervous System.

Ann Intern Med. 2002;137:753?763

[ramakentesh]

Yeah that is the guy! David Robertson and Murray Esler.

[janiedelite]

I just was assigned my date for the SSDI hearing and have sent this article to my disability attorney (along with my records, symptom diary and a couple other articles). Thanks, Nina, for posting this!