Postural Tachycardia Syndrome
Conditions
Keywords
Time-Restricted Eating, Intermittent fasting, POTS, Postural Tachycardia Syndrome
Brief summary
The mechanisms underlying POTS are not well understood. Though heterogeneous in nature, patients often present with symptoms that include fatigue, orthostatic lightheadedness and tachycardia, brain fog, shortness of breath, and sleep disruption. The central mediator that links observations in disease entities similar to POTS is energy use and balance driven by mitochondrial health. Mitochondrial dysfunction (i.e. respiration defects, reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation, and structural abnormalities) are hallmarks of currently defined syndromes that resemble POTS symptomatology. Many patients with POTS have underlying immune system dysfunction, which, when treated, may improve the patient's overall health. Though autoimmunity has been demonstrated in POTS, overall immune dysregulation may be broader and include immune cell exhaustion and persistent inflammatory cytokine responses. Immune dysfunction including cellular exhaustion and persistent inflammation has been linked to mitochondrial function. Therefore, we hypothesize that a unifying feature of POTS results from latent or continued mitochondrial/immune dysfunction which then impacts multi-organ energy imbalance and immune homeostasis. Understanding and targeting mitochondria utilizing established, novel, and directed approaches including time-restricted eating (TRE) will help to unravel common etiologies and help us to better diagnose, manage, and treat POTS.
Interventions
BEHAVIORALTime restricted eating
Participants in this arm will adhere to a daily, consistent 8-10-hr eating window for the course of the study.
Sponsors
Dysautonomia International
University of California, San Diego
Study design
Allocation
NA
Intervention model
SINGLE_GROUP
Primary purpose
DIAGNOSTIC
Masking
NONE
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
18 Years to 70 Years
Healthy volunteers
No
Inclusion criteria
1. Age: 18-70 years old 2. POTS, as defined by the presence of any of the following criteria: * For patients age 20 or older, increase in heart rate ≥ 30 bpm within ten minutes of upright posture (tilt test or standing) from a supine position (For patients age 18-19, heart rate increase must be \>40 bpm) * Associated with related symptoms that are worse with upright posture and that improve with recumbency * Chronic symptoms that have lasted for longer than six months * In the absence of other disorders, medications, or functional states that are known to predispose to orthostatic tachycardia 3. Baseline eating period \> 12-hour window
Exclusion criteria
4. Taking insulin within the last 6 months. 5. Manifest diabetes, defined as HbA1c \> 7.0% given a 0.3% margin of error in lab readings, or diagnosis of diabetes. 6. Known inflammatory and/or rheumatologic disease. 7. Active tobacco abuse or illicit drug use or history of treatment for alcohol abuse. 8. Pregnant or breast-feeding women. 9. Shift workers with variable (e.g. nocturnal) hours. 10. Caregivers for dependents requiring frequent nocturnal care/sleep interruptions. 11. Planned travel to a time zone with greater than a 3-hour difference during study period. 12. History of a major adverse cardiovascular event within the past 1 year (acute coronary syndrome (ACS), percutaneous coronary intervention, coronary artery bypass graft surgery, hospitalization for congestive heart failure, stroke/transient ischemic attack (TIA)). 13. Uncontrolled arrhythmia (i.e. rate-controlled atrial fibrillation/atrial flutter are not
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Conduct a pilot clinical trial with POTS patients to assess if TRE can improve Quality of Life. | Change from Baseline quality of life questionnaire at 14 weeks | Intervention with TRE will significantly improve quality of life (QOL). We will conduct a 12-week intervention with POTS patients to assess the impact of TRE on QOL (primary endpoint) utilizing the quality of life questionnaire SF-36.. |
Other
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Exploratory Outcome: Characterize mitochondrial function in POTS patients | Change from Baseline mitochondrial function at 14 weeks | Mitochondrial damage is a common feature of POTS regardless of triggers, comorbidities, and heterogeneity. We will test this hypothesis by assessing blood-based markers of mitochondrial function in patients with POTS and compare to banked healthy controls. |
| Exploratory Outcome: Assess whether POTS patients demonstrate persistent inflammatory responses and immune cell exhaustion | Change from Baseline immune response at 14 weeks | Immune homeostasis is disrupted in POTS leading to aberrant persistent cytokine responses and immune cell (T, B, NK cell) exhaustion. We will test immune exhaustion and persistent inflammation through flow cytometry of peripheral blood cells from patients with POTS as well as perform serum multiplex ELISA of cytokines and compare them with banked controls. |
Countries
United States
Outcome results
None listed