Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 29, 2025
Tilt Testing with Combined Lower Body Negative Pressure: a "Gold Standard" for Measuring Orthostatic Tolerance
Published on: March 21, 2013
Frequency of orthostatic hypotension in the Pooled Resource Open-Access ALS Clinical Trials database
C Quarracino1, F Capani1,2, M Otero-Losada1
1Centro de Altos Estudios en Ciencias Humanas y de la Salud, Universidad Abierta Interamericana, Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas, CAECIHS, UAI-CONICET, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Purpose:
To explore the frequency of orthostatic hypotension (OH) in a large sample of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis patients (ALS).
Methods:
From the PRO-ACT database, data of 1,240 ALS patients were analyzed, focusing on blood pressure and heart rate before and after standing. OH was defined as a drop in systolic/diastolic blood pressure > 20/10 mm Hg within 3 min of standing. Neurogenic OH was diagnosed when the heart rate increase was below 15 bpm in patients not taking medications that could affect this response.
Results:
At baseline, 138 (11.1%) patients showed OH, 76.1% of whom had neurogenic OH. At follow-up, 163 patients (13.1%) had OH, 71.2% with neurogenic OH. Only 22.5% of the patients with OH at baseline had OH at follow-up.
Conclusion:
In a large sample of ALS patients, OH occurred in 11-13%, pointing to a subgroup that might require special care to avoid related complications.
More Related Videos
Related Concept Videos
01:30Alterations in Blood Pressure
Hypertension (High blood pressure)
Hypertension occurs when blood pressure readings consistently exceed the normal range. It is diagnosed when systolic blood pressure (the top number, indicating pressure while the heart...
01:14The Parasympathetic Nervous System