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Autonomic dysfunction in Parkinson's disease, tested with a computerized method using a Finapres device

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Abstract

An automated program using a Finapres device and a personal computer, using a battery of five cardiovascular reflex tests has been developed. This has been used to study cardiovascular autonomic dysfunction in 23 ambulant patients with Parkinson's disease, without disabling fluctuations, and 23 age-matched healthy controls, as a screening method to detect autonomic dysfunction. In one patient only a Finapres signal of insufficient quality due to the tremor excluded subsequent analysis. Heart rate response to forced breathing was abnormal (below the fifth percentile of 124 normals) in six (26.1%) of parkinsonian patients and in one (4.3%) healthy age- and sex-matched control, to standing up four (17.4%) versus none, and to the Valsalva manoeuvre seven (30.4%) versus two (8.7%) respectively. The blood pressure response to standing up was abnormal in two (8.7%) parkinsonian patients and in none of the controls, while the response to sustained handgrip was abnormal in five (21.7%) patients versus one (4.3%) control. Autonomic dysfunction is commonly defined as an abnormal score on two or more of the five tests. Using this arbitrary definition, five patients with Parkinson's disease (=23%) had cardiovascular autonomic dysfunction, and none of the controls were abnormal.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geriatric Medicine, University Hospital Nijmegen, PO Box 9101, 6500 HB, Nijmegen, The Netherlands

    Katinka de Vos MD & Willibrord H. L. Hoefnagels MD, PhD

  2. Department of Neurology, University Hospital Nijmegen, PO Box 9101, 6500 HB, Nijmegen, The Netherlands

    Martin W. I. M. Horstink MD, PhD

  3. Department of Internal Medicine, Division of General Internal Medicine, PO Box 9101, 6500, Nijmegen, HB, The Netherlands

    Patrick M. Netten MD

Authors
  1. Patrick M. Netten MD
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  2. Katinka de Vos MD
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  3. Martin W. I. M. Horstink MD, PhD
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  4. Willibrord H. L. Hoefnagels MD, PhD
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Netten, P.M., de Vos, K., Horstink, M.W.I.M. et al. Autonomic dysfunction in Parkinson's disease, tested with a computerized method using a Finapres device. Clinical Autonomic Research 5, 85–89 (1995). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01827468

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01827468

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