Cardiovascular autonomic dysfunction in primary Sjögren's syndrome.
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.
Kovács
László
L
Department of Rheumatology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Szeged, Szeged, Hungary. kovl@in1st.szote.u-szeged.hu
Paprika
Dóra
D
Tákacs
Róbert
R
Kardos
Attila
A
Várkonyi
Tamás T
TT
Lengyel
Csaba
C
Kovács
Attila
A
Rudas
László
L
Pokorny
Gyula
G
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