title: Cardiovascular autonomic dysfunction in primary Sjögren's syndrome.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To assess the occurrence and clinical significance of a cardiovascular autonomic nervous system dysfunction in primary Sjögren's syndrome (pSS).
  
  
  METHODS
  Fifty-one pSS patients participated in this case-control study. Heart rate and blood pressure variability measurements, spontaneous baroreflex sensitivity examinations and cardiovascular reflex tests were performed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The results of the heart rate and blood pressure variability measurements and also the baroreflex sensitivity parameters of the pSS patients peaked in the lowest percentile ranges of a database on 559 healthy control subjects (P < 0.05). In three of the five cardiovascular reflex tests, the frequencies of abnormal results were significantly higher among the patients than among the controls (P < 0.05), and the median autonomic neuropathy score was also elevated (3 vs 0 in the controls; P < 0.0001).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Signs of an autonomic nervous system dysfunction involving the cardiovascular system can be discerned in the majority of pSS patients.
authors.affiliation: Department of Rheumatology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Szeged, Szeged, Hungary. kovl@in1st.szote.u-szeged.hu
authors.forename: László
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Kovács
authors.forename: Dóra
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Paprika
authors.forename: Róbert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Tákacs
authors.forename: Attila
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kardos
authors.forename: Tamás T
authors.initials: TT
authors.lastname: Várkonyi
authors.forename: Csaba
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Lengyel
authors.forename: Attila
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kovács
authors.forename: László
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Rudas
authors.forename: Gyula
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Pokorny
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001342:Autonomic Nervous System Diseases / Q000150:complications* / Q000503:physiopathology; D017704:Baroreflex; D001794:Blood Pressure; D002319:Cardiovascular System / Q000503:physiopathology; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D016208:Databases, Factual; D005260:Female; D006339:Heart Rate; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012684:Sensory Thresholds; D012859:Sjogren's Syndrome / Q000150:complications* / Q000503:physiopathology; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric