Why the study?
Does measurement of body movement-related heart rate variation (Rbm) during sleep identify autonomic nervous system dysfunction in patients with presenile dementia of the Alzheimer's type?
Does measurement of body movement-related heart rate variation (Rbm) during sleep identify autonomic nervous system dysfunction in patients with presenile dementia of the Alzheimer's type?
Measurement of body movement-related heart rate variation during sleep may be a useful tool for assessing autonomic nervous system function in patients with Alzheimer's disease who cannot cooperate with conventional wakeful testing.
Rbm may identify autonomic dysfunction in uncooperative presenile DAT patients; leaves open its validity pending prospective validation.
Autonomic nervous system (ANS) failure may be an important complication in some neurological diseases. Conventional tests for the assessment of ANS functions during wakefulness cannot be used for many patients with dementia of the Alzheimer's type (DA) because of their poor cooperation. In 6 of 16 patients with presenile DAT we found signs of sympathetic cardiac dysfunction during sleep, measured as the decrease in body movement-related heart rate variation (Rbm). The study of Rbm during sleep seems to be a useful tool for ascertaining ANS function in DAT. The presence or absence of ANS dysfunction could be a more reliable criterion than age of onset for identifying subgroups of this disease.
No takes yet. Share an insight, caveat, or question.
Franceschi et al. (2009) studied this question.
Synapse has enriched 5 closely related papers on similar clinical questions. Consider them for comparative context: