POTS or PoTS? Postural tachycardia syndrome or postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome? What is the correct term to use?

Dysautonomia International uses the term postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome and the acronym POTS. That’s not to say that PoTS or postural tachycardia syndrome are wrong.  Both terms and acronyms are correct, but there are several reasons why Dysautonomia International uses the longer term.

1. The original term is “postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome.”
The first article describing POTS was written by Mayo Clinic researchers Dr. Ronald Schondorf and Dr. Philip Low in 1993. They used the term “postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome” and the acronym POTS.

2. Slightly more journal articles have been published using “postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome.”
The literature is pretty closely divided, but as of today’s date, if you search on PubMed.gov, the online repository of 23 million medical journal articles abstracts from the US National Library of Medicine, you will find 262 abstracts if you search for the phrase “postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome.”  If you search for the phrase “postural tachycardia syndrome” you will find 221 abstracts.

3. The general public much more commonly uses “postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome.”
As of today’s date, a Google search for “postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome” returns 194,000 results.  A Google search for “postural tachycardia syndrome” only returns 38,100 results.

4. POTS patients and their doctors are more likely to use “postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome.”
Dysautonomia International asked a large international group of patients what term they used and what term their doctors used.  Over 90% of patients responded that they and their doctors used “postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome” and POTS.

5. Most importantly, using the term “postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome” may help patients get better medical care.
Including the “orthostatic” word helps a medical professional, who doesn’t know what POTS is, understand a basic principle; that the person who has POTS has an orthostatic problem. Most doctors and nurses, even if they have never heard of POTS, are aware of orthostatic hypotension and maybe even orthostatic intolerance, and they have been trained how to take orthostatic vitals. Including “orthostatic” in the name of the condition gives two big hints to medical professionals that may not know what to do with the POTS patient presenting in their ambulance, ER or medical office: (1) maybe this person needs to have their blood pressure and heart rate checked in different positions, (2) maybe we need to lay this person down to prevent a faint. A person unfamiliar with POTS would not be  reminded of these clues to the nature of the diagnosis if you simply call it “postural tachycardia syndrome.”

There is no right or wrong answer, but Dysautonomia International believes that anything we can do to help POTS patients obtain better medical care should be taken into consideration.

What term do you use?

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