Dizziness After Standing Could Lead To Serious Health Problems And Increased Risk Of Death

If you get dizzy a few minutes after you stand up, you could be facing big health problems, perhaps even death. Just getting giddy could be due to a sudden drop in blood pressure, which is linked to dehydration.

While a few such instances of dizziness is quite common, the rise in frequency as well as for longer durations after standing (orthostatic hypotension), it might indicate a serious underlying issue, the American Academy of Neurology  reported.

"Our study looked at delayed orthostatic hypotension, when the drop in blood pressure happens more than three minutes after standing or sitting up," said study author Christopher Gibbons, with Harvard Medical School in Boston and a Fellow with the American Academy of Neurology. "Our findings suggest that more than half of people with the delayed form of this condition will go on to develop the more serious form of this disease. This is also the first study to date suggesting the disease is a milder form of the more common and serious disorder."

Looking over the medical records of 165 people with an average age of 59, who had completed nervous system testing and were followed for 10 years, scientists found that among them, 48 were diagnosed with "delayed orthostatic hypotension", another 42 had "orthostatic hypotension", while just 75 did not have either.

It was found by examining the reports, that 54 percent of participants with delayed orthostatic hypotension developed orthostatic hypotension, while 31 percent got degenerative brain diseases including Parkinson's.

About 64 percent of patients with orthostatic hypotension died, and only for 29 percent who had delayed orthostatic hypotension---which was the less severe of the two----the rate of death was 9 percent for those who did not suffer from either condition.

On the other hand, the death rate for patients who had delayed orthostatic hypotension, which went on to orthostatic hypotension, was 50 percent.

"Our findings may lead to earlier recognition, diagnosis and treatments of this condition and possibly other underlying diseases that may contribute to early death," said Gibbons, according to HNGN.

The findings were published in a recent edition of the journal Neurology.