Heart Rate Variability during wake and sleep in Huntington ’s Disease patients. An observational, cross-sectional, cohort study.

Introduction Autonomic dysfunction has been reported as one of non-motor manifestations of both pre-symptomatic and manifest Huntington ’s Disease (HD). The aim of our study was to evaluate heart rate variability (HRV) during wake and sleep in a cohort of patients with manifest HD. Methods Thirty consecutive patients with manifest HD were enrolled, 14 men and 16 women, mean age 57.3±12.2 years. All patients underwent full-night a ttended video-polysomnography. HRV was analyzed during wake, NREM and REM sleep, in time and frequency domain. Results were compared with a control group of healthy volunteers matched for age and sex. Results During wake HD patients presented significantly higher mean heart rate than controls (72.4 ±9.6 vs 58.1±7.3 bpm; p
Source: Neurodegenerative Diseases - Category: Neurology Source Type: research