Heart Rate Variability in Huntington Disease. A Long Term Longitudinal Study

Introduction: The aim of the study was to follow tonic and phasic autonomic nervous activity in Huntington disease (HD) mutation carriers and patients. Methods: Evaluation of motor functions and total functional capacity was performed in 30 HD mutation carriers or patients at the beginning and in 22 subjects after 8-10 years. Continuous arterial blood pressure, heart rate (HR), ECG at rest were measured and HR variability analysis was performed in four different ways. A group of matched controls was also evaluated. Results: Eighteen subjects were assorted in three groups: 6 HD mutation carriers without motor symptoms (PHD) who remained so (PHD-PHD); 6 early symptomatic patients (EHD) who remained so (EHD-EHD) and 6 early symptomatic patients who deteriorated to a late symptomatic (LHD) (EHD-LHD). At the beginning sympathetic tonic activity in PHD was elevated, according to mean arterial pressure (99 ±10.6 mmHg) higher than in controls (85±8.7 mmHg) and EHD (82±9.9 mmHg) (Dunnett’s test, p
Source: Neurodegenerative Diseases - Category: Neurology Source Type: research