MALMO POTS Score

The Malmö POTS Symptom Score gives a number to how much postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome is affecting a person right now. It was built because POTS symptom burden had no standard measure, which made it hard to tell whether a medication change had actually helped.

Twelve symptoms are rated for the past seven days, each on a scale from 0 for no symptoms to 10 for very pronounced. Five are cardiac: palpitations, dizziness, presyncope, breathlessness, and chest pain. Seven are not: gastrointestinal symptoms, insomnia, concentration difficulties, headache, muscle pain, nausea, and fatigue. Totals run 0 to 120, with higher meaning more severe. Because it is quick and self-completed, it works well repeated over time.

• Validation Study, Spahic et al. (2023)

Licensing Notes: Developed by Jasmina Medic Spahic, Artur Fedorowski, and colleagues at Lund University, published open-access in the Journal of Internal Medicine (2023).

Learn More: A cut-off of 42 or above distinguishes people with POTS from healthy controls. For context on what a score means, the validation study found POTS patients averaged 78 (SD 20) against 14 (SD 12) in controls. The three most prominent symptoms in the POTS group were palpitations, fatigue, and concentration difficulties.