Measurement of autonomic dysregulation in multiple sclerosis.
OBJECTIVE
Patients with definite multiple sclerosis (MS) were tested for autonomic nervous system (ANS) dysfunction using clinical symptomatology criteria and non-invasive laboratory testing. Exactly 45.45% of patients exhibited subjective symptoms of autonomic dysfunction and 42.42% of patients had abnormal laboratory tests results.


METHODS
The sympathetic ANS tests were abnormal in 30.3% of MS patients and the parasympathetic ANS tests were abnormal in 18.18% of MS patients. The most sensitive test for the presence of autonomic dysfunction was the sympathetic skin response.


CONCLUSIONS
Autonomic dysfunction was often subclinical and we conclude that it is preferable to combine several tests for a more thorough and accurate evaluation of the ANS impairment in MS.
Kodounis
A
A
251 General Airforce Hospital of Athens, Aeginition University of Neurology Hospital, 401 General Army Hospital of Athens, Athens, Greece. basil@hol.gr
Stamboulis
E
E
Constantinidis
T S
TS
Liolios
A
A
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001342:Autonomic Nervous System Diseases / Q000145:classification / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology; D001794:Blood Pressure / Q000502:physiology; D001921:Brain / Q000503:physiopathology; D002302:Cardiac Output / Q000502:physiology; D004185:Disability Evaluation; D004562:Electrocardiography; D004569:Electroencephalography; D005260:Female; D006339:Heart Rate / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009103:Multiple Sclerosis / Q000145:classification / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology; D009460:Neurologic Examination; D010275:Parasympathetic Nervous System / Q000503:physiopathology; D012016:Reference Values; D013116:Spinal Cord / Q000503:physiopathology; D013223:Statistics as Topic; D013564:Sympathetic Nervous System / Q000503:physiopathology; D013610:Tachycardia / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000503:physiopathology