Ambulatory blood pressure monitoring in patients with spinocerebellar degeneration.
OBJECTIVE
The aim of this study was to demonstrate circadian blood pressure trends and to evaluate autonomic function in patients with spinocerebellar degeneration (SCD).


METHODS
We performed 24-h ambulatory blood pressure monitoring (ABPM) on 10 patients from seven Japanese families with spinocerebellar ataxia type 6 (SCA6), 10 patients with idiopathic cerebellar ataxia (ICA), eight patients with multiple system atrophy (MSA) suffering from cerebellar MSA (MSA-C), and 12 age- and gender-matched normal subjects. We also evaluated autonomic function in these patients.


RESULTS
Three SCA6 patients (30%), six ICA patients (60%), eight MSA-C patients (100%) and four normal subjects (33%) were non-dippers. The nocturnal reduction rate of blood pressure in MSA patients was significantly less than those in normal subjects, SCA6 patients and ICA patients. There were no abnormal findings in any patient with SCA6 in autonomic function tests. All dipper patients exhibited normal findings on autonomic function tests. This is the first report of ABPM in patients with SCD.


CONCLUSIONS
Blunted reduction of nocturnal blood pressure may be associated with autonomic dysfunction in patients with SCD.
Azuma
T
T
Second Department of Internal Medicine, Osaka Medical Center for Cancer and Cardiovascular Diseases, Osaka, Japan. azuma-tu@mc.pref.osaka.jp
Uemichi
T
T
Funauchi
M
M
Nagai
Y
Y
Matsubara
T
T
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001341:Autonomic Nervous System / Q000503:physiopathology*; D001794:Blood Pressure; D018660:Blood Pressure Monitoring, Ambulatory / Q000379:methods* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D002940:Circadian Rhythm; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D013132:Spinocerebellar Degenerations / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000503:physiopathology*