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Twenty-four-hour heart rate variability to assess autonomic function in Parkinson's disease
C Mastrocola1, N Vanacore, A Giovani
1Department of Clinical Medicine, University of La Sapienza, Rome, Italy.
Objectives:
To evaluate the autonomic dysfunction in Parkinson's disease patients by means of a 24-h heart rate variability (HRV) method.
Material And Methods:
Thirteen patients with a diagnosis of Parkinson's disease were compared with 13 age-matched healthy persons (control group). The 13 patients had a mean age of 70.5 years, and mean disease duration of 10.9 years. The autonomic function was evaluated by HRV analysis using a continuous 24-h ECG. The parameters of SDNN (standard deviation of the normal-to-normal intervals between adjacent QRS complexes), of LF (power in low frequency) and of HF (power in high frequency) were studied during the following 3 periods: 24 h, night and day.
Results:
The data show a statistically significant difference between groups for SDNN and LF in all the periods, while for HF parameters the difference is statistically significant only in the night period.
Conclusion:
The use of the 24-h HRV method can provide more accurate and reproducible data than other conventional cardiovascular tests.