Salt supplement increases plasma volume and orthostatic tolerance in patients with unexplained syncope.

What Was Tested

The paper reports a study of Sodium Chloride, Dietary, published as a randomized controlled trial.

Patients with poor tolerance of orthostatic stress tend to have lower than average plasma and blood volumes.

Who Took Part

The abstract describes 20 patients taking part.

The age groups tagged for this paper are adults and middle-aged adults, both men and women.

31 patients presenting with episodes of syncope who had no apparent cardiac or neurological disease.

How the Study Was Run

The researchers set it up as a randomized, double-blind and placebo-controlled study.

Because people in this Sodium Chloride, Dietary study were split into groups at random, differences between the groups are less likely to reflect who happened to join each one.

As a double-blind Sodium Chloride, Dietary study, the assignments were hidden from both participants and investigators until the end.

The comparison arm used a placebo, so changes seen with Sodium Chloride, Dietary could be set against what happens without it.

Plasma volume was determined by Evans blue dye dilution, orthostatic tolerance by time to presyncope in a test of combined head-up tilt and lower body suction, and baroreceptor sensitivity by the effect of neck suction on pulse interval.

What Was Measured

Topics PubMed links to this paper include Baroreflex, Blood Volume, Electrocardiography, Plasma Volume, Posture, Sodium Chloride and Sodium Chloride, Dietary.

What This Means in Plain Language

The paper is a randomized, double-blind and placebo-controlled study of Sodium Chloride, Dietary in 20 patients.

With fewer than 40 people, it is a small study, so it is better read as an early signal for further research than as a settled answer.

The abstract goes on to report its results in about 4 sentences; this page does not restate them, so read the paper for the findings and their limits.

The publication is from 1996 (Heart (British Cardiac Society)), a journal based in England.

More context: all human trials.