![]() ![]() Patients treated for POTS at the Smidt Heart Institute often are encouraged to join the cardiac rehabilitation program, which aims to strengthen the body and heart. Certain medical therapies can also be considered. Additional recommended measures may include eating a high-sodium diet and wearing abdominal or lower body compression garments. Many effective interventions involve lifestyle modifications, Chen says, include avoiding triggers such as prolonged standing, extreme heat, extreme cold and alcoholic beverages. “Given a broader understanding of the disease, many patients can be diagnosed more quickly permitting earlier interventions that can greatly improve their symptoms.” “In an unexpected but important way, the COVID-19 pandemic brought a great deal of awareness to POTS-both to patients and providers,” said Peng-Sheng Chen, MD, an expert on the condition who leads one of only a few POTS specialty clinics in the nation. However, COVID-19 has expanded the medical field’s understanding of POTS. This is because many healthcare providers are unfamiliar with the disease and its symptoms, which often can be incorrectly attributed to chronic fatigue syndrome or other conditions. Many patients-especially those who developed POTS prior to the COVID-19 pandemic-spent years trying to get properly diagnosed. “This knowledge identifies a possible-yet still relatively slim-association between COVID-19 vaccination and POTS,” said Kwan. ![]() Kwan emphasizes that despite this finding, the rates of POTS after vaccination were much lower than rates of new POTS diagnosis after COVID-19. “We also found that the relative odds of POTS were higher than would be explained by increases in visits to physicians after vaccination or infection.” “From this analysis, we found that the odds of developing POTS are higher 90 days after vaccine exposure than the 90 days prior to exposure,” said Kwan. ![]() To validate their findings, study authors used data from 284,592 vaccinated patients treated within the broader Cedars-Sinai Health System between the years 20, as well as 12,460 Cedars-Sinai patients with COVID-19. Other symptoms include fainting, dizziness and fatigue, although some patients with severe disease may also experience migraine, increased urination, sweaty extremities, anxiety, and tremor. The most identifiable POTS symptom is a rapid increase in the heartbeat of more than 30 beats per minute, or a heart rate that exceeds 120 beats per minute, within 10 minutes of standing. Postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome is a nervous system-related condition that most commonly affects young women of childbearing age. Kwan, MD, first and corresponding author of the study and a cardiovascular specialist at Cedars-Sinai. “The main message here is that while we see a potential link between COVID-19 vaccination and POTS, preventing COVID-19 through vaccination is still the best way to reduce your risk of developing POTS,” said Alan C. The investigators also found that those diagnosed with COVID-19 are five times more likely to develop the same cardiac condition after infection than after vaccination, emphasizing the importance of the vaccine. Their findings, published in the peer-reviewed journal Nature Cardiovascular Research, suggest that a small percentage of patients vaccinated against COVID-19 may develop postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome, or POTS. Investigators from the Smidt Heart Institute at Cedars-Sinai validated the link between a debilitating heart condition and COVID-19 and, to a lesser extent, a novel link between the same condition and COVID-19 vaccination. ![]()
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