Cited by 225Cardiovascular Syncope and Autonomic DisordersHeart Rate Variability and Autonomic ControlLong-Term Effects of COVID-19

The DOI matches its Crossref record; 27 of the 27 references it cites were found in a registry or an index; 4 of the 17 sources its claims cite were checked for support.

Propranolol Decreases Tachycardia and Improves Symptoms in the Postural Tachycardia Syndrome: Less Is More

Open access

Abstract

Background— Postural tachycardia syndrome (POTS) induces disabling chronic orthostatic intolerance with an excessive increase in heart rate on standing. β-Blockade is an appealing treatment approach, but conflicting preliminary reports are conflicting. We tested the hypothesis that propranolol will attenuate the tachycardia and improve symptom burden in patients with POTS. In protocol 1, a low dose (20 mg) was compared with placebo, and the dose response was assessed in protocol 2. Methods and Results— In protocol 1, patients with POTS (n=54) underwent acute drug trials of propranolol 20 mg orally and placebo, on separate mornings, in a randomized crossover design. Blood pressure, heart rate, and symptoms were assessed while the patients were seated and after standing for up to 10 minutes before and hourly after the study drug. Supine ( P <0.001) and standing ( P <0.001) heart rates were significantly lower after propranolol compared with placebo. The symptom burden improvement from baseline to 2 hours was greater with propranolol than placebo (median, −4.5 versus 0 arbitrary units; P =0.044). In protocol 2, 18 patients with POTS underwent similar trials of high-dose (80 mg) versus low-dose (20 mg) propranolol. Although the high dose elicited a greater decrease than the low dose in standing heart rate ( P <0.001) and orthostatic tachycardia ( P <0.001), the improvement in symptoms at 2 hours was greater with low-dose propranolol (−6 versus −2 arbitrary units; P =0.041). Conclusions— Low-dose oral propranolol significantly attenuated tachycardia and improved symptoms in POTS. Higher-dose propranolol did not further improve, and may worsen, symptoms.

Overview

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1161/circulationaha.108.846501

Cites

27 of 27 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Nothing to recompute.

Verification

Claims the paper makes

18 Own result · 11 Own method · 8 Own interpretation · 2 Sources not found · 2 No full text of the sources · 1 Supported · 1 Supported so far · 1 Partly supported · 1 Not checked yet · accuracy not yet measured

  • Probably not a substantial claim. 14
  • It may state two separate claims as one. 16
22 of 22
  • The paper relies on this without support.

    The study is the first placebo-controlled trial of a beta-blocker in POTS.

    “This paper is the first placebo controlled trial of a beta-blocker in patients with POTS.”
    “These are the first blinded data comparing oral beta-blocker therapy to placebo in POTS.”
  • The paper relies on this without support.

    Repeated symptom ratings from the same patient use a relatively stable frame of reference.

    “Like serial chest pain rating scales, however, we expect serial intrapatient reports to use a more constant frame of reference.”
  • The paper relies on this without support.

    Standing from a seated position gives a clinically relevant and reproducible orthostatic stress.

    “While conducting the study while seated might decrease the magnitude of the orthostatic tachycardia, it does provide a clinically relevant and reproducible scenario.”
  • The paper relies on this without support.

    The nine symptoms in the Vanderbilt POTS Symptom Score reflect common complaints of POTS patients.

    “This symptom score has been previously used by our center 6 and the symptoms were chosen as they reflect common complaints of patients with POTS.”
4 of 4

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

Self-check

Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.

Each contradiction between two passages listed here was confirmed by an independent check.

1 of 1

Citations

Cites

Show all 27 references

Research works printed but not linked: 1

  1. 10.1161/hyp.38.6.1377 · DOI

Cited by

Sorted by citations

See all 225

Metadata

Authors
Raj, S. R., Black, B. K., Biaggioni, I., Paranjape, S. Y., Ramirez, M., Dupont, W. D., & Robertson, D.
Affiliations
Vanderbilt University (US)
Venue
Circulation
Published
2009-09
Volume
120
Issue
9
Pages
725-734
ISSN
  • 0009-7322 (ISSN-L)
  • 1524-4539
OpenAlex
W2145724863
Cited by
225
References
27
Citations by year
2026: 10 · 2025: 15 · 2024: 16 · 2023: 15 · 2022: 20 · 2021: 18 · 2020: 13 · 2019: 10 · 2018: 16 · 2017: 13 · 2016: 9 · 2015: 8 · 2014: 9 · 2013: 14 · 2012: 15
FWCI
13.16
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Circulation (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
Funders
  • National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (R01HL071784, P01HL056693)
  • National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (R01NS055670)
  • National Center for Research Resources (M01RR000095, UL1RR024975, K23RR020783)
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Cardiology and Cardiovascular Medicine › Cardiovascular Syncope and Autonomic Disorders
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Cardiology and Cardiovascular Medicine › Heart Rate Variability and Autonomic Control
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Clinical Neurology › Long-Term Effects of COVID-19
Keywords
postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome, propranolol, beta-blockers, orthostatic intolerance, heart rate, symptom burden, dose-response relationship
MeSH terms
Administration, Oral, Adrenergic beta-Antagonists, Adult, Blood Pressure, Dose-Response Relationship, Drug, Female, Heart Rate, Humans, Male, Placebos, Propranolol, Sympathetic Nervous System, Tachycardia, Treatment Outcome, Cross-Over Studies, Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome, Young Adult

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

A language model drew the claims from the paper on 2026-09-28, under version 3 of the claim definition (model deepseek-v4.1-flash, prompt extract-v3).

A second model labelled each claim on 2026-09-28 (model jev-1.13-20260917, definition revision gold-guideline-v0.2).

Cited sources are checked with a language model’s help (gpt-6-sol).

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review