Standing Up to POTS is making a difference in the POTS community through research. To date, we have awarded $529,782 USD to elite POTS research teams in the United States, Australia, Canada, Germany, Sweden and the United Kingdom. Our focus when awarding grants is always toward improving the quality of life for people living with POTS right now through better diagnosis and treatment options.
Drs. Etheresia Pretorius, Douglas Kell, and Gregory Lip - Department of Physiological Sciences, Stellenbosch University, South Africa - awarded February 2024
POTS is a complex chronic illness that often has comorbidities including Long COVID. Dr. Pretorius' lab seeks to better understand coagulation dynamics and endothelial health in the development of microclots. Their aim is to characterize these microclots and the inflammatory molecules within them to inform more targeted diagnostic and treatment strategies.
Dr. Andrea Maier and Dr. J.B. Schulz, Department of Neurology, University Hospital, Germany - awarded February 2024
Diagnosis continues to elude far too many POTS patients. Dr. Maier's research team seeks to establish a rapid diagnostic process for diagnosing POTS that can be used in any healthcare practitioner's office. They hope is to normalize and quicken the diagnosis of POTS so that proper treatment may begin.
Dr. Haohan Wang, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign School of Information Sciences - awarded February 2024
For approximately 40% of POTS patients, regular fainting is a problem. Dr. Wang's team plans to develop a wearable device that can predict a fainting episode in POTS patients 2-3 minutes in advance. This could be a game changer for many with POTS, allowing them to get into a safe position and hopefully prevent the faint from occurring at all.
Dr. Satish R. Raj, MD, MSCI, Department of Cardiac Sciences, Libin Cardiovascular Institute, Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary - awarded February 2022
The underlying cause of hyperventilation upon standing in many POTS patients is not well understood. Dr. Raj and his team will seek to manipulate carbon dioxide levels in the blood upon standing to better understand the role that chemoreceptors play in POTS symptomology and to explore potential new treatments for POTS patients.
Dr. Jeffrey Boris, MD LLC, pediatric cardiologist in private practice, and Dr. Bruce Kristal, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, USA - awarded February 2021
Their project will take an informatics approach to choosing the right treatment for individual postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS) patients based on clinical subgroups. We are really excited about the possibility that data can be used to determine best practices for treating patients with particular clusters of symptoms.
Dr. Dennis Lau, Mary-Claire Seeley, Dr. Celine Gallagher, Dr. Adrian Elliot - Centre for Heart Rhythm Disorders at the University of Adelaide: Royal Adelaide Hospital, Australia - awarded February 2021
The aim is to study POTS in Long COVID syndrome with a comprehensive look at inflammation, neuroendocrine dysfunction, and autoimmunity post-COVID infection. The silver lining in this pandemic is that there are many new POTS patients that can be studied where the trigger of symptom onset is known and can be quantified. Approximately 40% of all POTS patients develop symptoms post infection, so we hope that this research will help a large proportion of current POTS patients.
PUBLICATION: Seeley, Marie-Claire, Celine Gallagher, Eric Ong, Amy Langdon, Jonathan Chieng, Danielle Bailey, Amanda Page, Hans S. Lim, and Dennis H. Lau. 2023. High Incidence of autonomic dysfunction and postural tachycardia syndrome in patients with long-COVID: Implications for management and healthcare planning. American Journal of Medicine. doi: 10.1016/j.amjmed.2023.06.010
Dr. Artur Fedorowski, Dr. Daiva Daukantaite, Dr. Viktor Hamrefors, and Dr. Karl Firth - Lund University, Stockholm, Sweden - awarded February 2019
A variety of physiological variables will be monitored and recorded in real time 24 hours a day to better determine physiological and psychological fluctuations in POTS patients.
PUBLICATION: Spahic, J.M., Mattisson, I.Y., Hamrefors, V., Johansson, M., Ricci, F., Nilsson, J., Melander, O., Sutton, R. and Fedorowski, A., 2023. Evidence for Impaired Renin Activity in Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome. Journal of Clinical Medicine, 12(14), p.4660. 10.3390/jcm12144660
Dr. Heather Edgell - York University, School of Kinesiology and Health Sciences, Toronto, Canada - awarded February 2018
The overall aim of this study is to examine how hormonal changes related to a woman's menstrual cycle affect symptoms of POTS, and whether the time of the month matters in diagnosis POTS for women of childbearing age. Further, a novel therapy for alleviating symptoms will be tested.
PUBLICATION: Nardone, Massimo, Juan Guzman, Paula Jean Harvey, John S. Floras, and Heather Edgell. 2020. "Effect of a neck compression collar on cardiorespiratory and cerebrovascular function in postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS)." Journal of Applied Physiology. doi.org/10.1152/japplphysiol.00040.2020
Dr. Andrea Maier, Dr. J.B. Schulz, Dr. Roman Rolke, and Dr. Joacim Weis - University Hospital RWTH Aachen, Germany - awarded February 2018
Many patients with POTS report attention deficits and “brain fog” with problems in their everyday life and work, predominantly in upright posture. Specific symptomatic or medical therapies do not exist. This study will investigate problems of concentration, attention and/or cognitive dysfunction in people with POTS, autoimmune autonomic neuropathy, small fiber neuropathy and Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome compared to healthy controls.
PUBLICATION: Maier, Andrea, Lena Schopen, Joana Thiel, Katharina Muller, Bruno Fimm, Jorg B. Schulz. 2023. Cognitive functioning in postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome among different body positions: a prospective pilot study (POTSKog study). Clinical Autonomic Research. 33:459-468. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10286-023-00950-0
Dr. Svetlana Blitshteyn - Dysautonomic Clinic, Buffalo, New York, USA - awarded June 2017
This study examines the connection between Lyme Disease and POTS, a particularly important issue for our friends in the Northeastern United States and other places where Lyme disease is prevalent.