A survey based study on sleep disturbance in postural tachycardia syndrome

Abstract

Background: Postural tachycardia syndrome (POTS) is an autonomic disturbance characterized by an excessive increase in heart rate when an individual moves from a sitting to an upright position. POTS patients often complain of fatigue, daytime sleepiness and insomnia, but there is limited evidence to elucidate the mechanism or the prevalence of sleep-related symptoms in POTS, as well as the effect on patient quality of life. Here, we investigated the prevalence of sleep disturbances in POTS patients, as well as the use of medication and effects on daily life.

Methods: A survey was administered to 30 patients with POTS. The survey contained 22 questions on various characteristics of sleep disturbances in POTS. Answers were recorded on a five-point Likert rating scale.

Results: The majority of the patients reported fatigue (96.7%) and low energy (93.3%) during the day. Most (83.3%) patients reported that they do not feel well rested when waking up in the morning. More than half of the patients reported trouble falling asleep at night (63.3%) and maintaining sleep through the night (62.1%). Despite the frequent complaint of sleep disturbance, a very low percentage of POTS patient actually report seeking treatment.

Conclusion: In this study, we explored the prevalence of sleep disturbance in patients with POTS. Almost all POTS patients reported trouble with sleep and fatigue; however, there is major discrepancy between the high percentage of symptoms and small percentage of patients seeking medical assistance for better sleep quality.

Keywords: Daytime sleepiness; Fatigue; Insomnia; POTS; POTS treatment; Postural tachycardia; Sleep disturbance; Sleep quality.