[Autonomic function in uremia and diabetes mellitus]

Autonomic function was evaluated in three groups of patients: diabetics, nondiabetic uremics, and uremic nondiabetics. Autonomic function was assessed with a parasympathetic function test (Valsalva maneuver) and two sympathetic function tests (cold and amyl nitrite). The results showed that all groups of patients, as compared with healthy controls, had a dysfunction of the autonomic nervous system (ANS). This ANS involvement, both in the parasympathetic and the sympathetic divisions, was much more severe in those patients with simultaneous uremia and diabetes.