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

Abstract

Purpose: The effect of postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS) on health-related quality of life (HrQoL) remains poorly studied. Here, we sought to compare the HrQoL in individuals with POTS to a normative age-/sex-matched population. Methods: Participants enrolled in the Australian POTS registry between 5 August 2021 and 30 June 2022 were compared with propensity-matched local normative population data from the South Australian Health Omnibus Survey. The EQ-5D-5L instrument was used to assess HrQoL across the five domains (mobility, self-care, usual activities, pain/discomfort, and anxiety/depression) with global health rating assessed with a visual analog scale (EQ-VAS). A population-based scoring algorithm was applied to the EQ-5D-5L data to calculate utility scores. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses were undertaken to explore predictors of low utility scores. Results: A total of 404 participants (n = 202 POTS; n = 202 normative population; median age 28 years, 90.6% females) were included. Compared with the normative population, the POTS cohort demonstrated significantly higher burden of impairment across all EQ-5D-5L domains (all P < 0.001), lower median EQ-VAS (p < 0.001), and lower utility scores (p