Joint hypermobility syndrome (JHS) has repeatedly been associated with anxiety and anxiety disorders, fibromyalgia, irritable bowel syndrome and temporomandibular joint disorder. However, the neural underpinnings of these associations still remain unclear. This study explored brain responses to facial visual stimuli with emotional cues using fMRI techniques in general population with different ranges of hypermobility.

Fifty-one non-clinical volunteers (33 women) completed state and trait anxiety questionnaire measures, were assessed with a clinical examination for hypermobility (Beighton system) and performed an emotional face processing paradigm during functional neuroimaging.

Trait anxiety scores did significantly correlate with both state anxiety and hypermobility scores. BOLD signals of the hippocampus did positively correlate with hypermobility scores for the crying faces versus neutral faces contrast in ROI analyses. No results were found for any of the other studied ROIs. Additionally, hypermobility scores were also associated with other key affective processing areas (i.e. the middle and anterior cingulate gyrus, fusiform gyrus, parahippocampal region, orbitofrontal cortex and cerebellum) in the whole brain analysis.

Hypermobility scores are associated with trait anxiety and higher brain responses to emotional faces in emotion processing brain areas (including hippocampus) described to be linked to anxiety and somatic symptoms. These findings increase our understanding of emotion processing in people bearing this heritable variant of collagen and the mechanisms through which vulnerability to anxiety and somatic symptoms arises in this population.

Postural tachycardia syndrome is more frequently being recognised in adolescents and adults. However, its pathophysiology remains undefined. We evaluated our database for patterns in family history of clinical symptoms and associated disorders in these patients.

Patients with postural tachycardia syndrome diagnosed in our clinic between 2014 and 2018 and who were less than 19 years at diagnosis were included. The history was reviewed for family members with postural tachycardia syndrome, dizziness and/or syncope, joint hypermobility with or without hypermobile Ehlers–Danlos syndrome, and autoimmune disorders. Statistical analysis assessed the entire cohort plus differences in gender, presence or absence of joint hypermobility, and presence or absence of familial autoimmune disease.

A total of 579 patients met inclusion criteria. We found that 14.2% of patients had a family member with postural tachycardia syndrome, with male patients more likely to have an affected family member (20% versus 12.7%, p = 0.04). If the patient also had joint hypermobility, male patients were more likely to have a family member with postural tachycardia syndrome (25% versus 12.6%, p = 0.017), more than one affected family member (7.1% versus 0.74%, p = 0.001), and a family member with joint hypermobility (37.5% versus 23.7%, p = 0.032). Autoimmune disease was seen in 45.1% of family members, but more likely in female patients with concurrent hypermobility (21.1% versus 8.9%, p = 0.035).

This in-depth analysis of associated familial disorders in patients with postural tachycardia syndrome offers further insight into the pathophysiology of the disorder, and informs further screening of family members in these patients.

The aim of this study was to identify and evaluate demographic and clinical features of paediatric patients with postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome in a tertiary hospital speciality clinic.

This is a retrospective review of clinical data obtained during initial outpatient evaluation.

A total of 708 patients met the evaluation criteria. Female patients outnumbered males, 3.45:1. Caucasians were over-represented at 94.1% of patients. Median age at diagnosis was 15.7 years. Joint hypermobility occurred in 57.3% of patients; 22.4% had hypermobile Ehlers–Danlos syndrome; and 34.9% had hypermobility spectrum disorder. Median age of onset of symptoms was 12.6 years in patients with hypermobility versus 13.7 years in those without (p=0.0001). Median duration of symptoms was 3.3 years with hypermobility versus 1.5 years without (p<0.00001). Putative triggers included infection in 23.6% of patients, concussion in 11.4%, and surgery/trauma in 2.8%. Concurrent inflammatory disorders were noted in 5.2% of patients. Six symptoms comprised 80% of initial patient complaints. Overall, 66% of patients subsequently had at least 10 symptoms, 50% had at least 14 symptoms, and 30% reported at least 26 symptoms. Symptoms were largely cardiovascular, gastrointestinal, and neurological. Paediatric patients with postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome seen in a large speciality clinic are predominantly female, are mostly Caucasian, have onset of symptoms in early adolescence, and have symptoms for over two years before diagnosis. Over half of patients have joint hypermobility. More than one-third of patients have a possible autoimmune or inflammatory trigger, including infection, concussion, or surgery/trauma. Patients experience symptoms that are highly variable and multi-system in origin over the course of illness.