People who experience dizziness upon rising after sitting, kneeling, or lying down might be at an increased risk of future heart failure, says a new study published in the journal Hypertension. Known medically as orthostatic hypotension, the condition refers to a drop in blood pressure that occurs when the body moves from a reclining position to an upright standing position. This dip in blood pressure is easily diagnosed, and that s exactly what researchers from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill did for their latest study.
For the study, over 12,000 middle-aged adults were followed for nearly twenty years. Researchers assessed whether the participants had orthostatic hypotension at the onset of the study by measuring their blood pressure while they were lying down and several more times again over a two-minute interval after they rose. If the systolic blood pressure reading (the top number) decreased by 20 mm Hg or more, or if the diastolic reading (the bottom number) fell by 10 mm Hg or more, then the patient was classified as having orthostatic hypotension.
Among the participants, 600 people were diagnosed with the condition; and within this subgroup, researchers found a 50 percent increased risk of heart failure over the course of the study. People with orthostatic hypotension, however, are also more likely to have high blood pressure, which is another risk factor for heart failure. But even after eliminating all hypertensive adults from their analysis, researchers found that orthostatic hypotension patients were still about one-third more likely to develop heart failure.
Still, if you re prone to experiencing dizziness after getting up, the latest findings shouldn t be cause for panic. As Dr. David Frid, a cardiologist at Cleveland Clinic in Ohio points out, I don t think that everybody who gets lightheaded or dizzy occasionally in their life should be concerned that they are going to get heart failure. But ACSH's Dr. Gilbert Ross adds, I d consider orthostasis another risk factor for heart failure, if these results are confirmed. That would be a reason to more closely observe and treat other risk factors.