Why the study?
Do patients with rheumatoid arthritis have impaired autonomic nerve function compared to healthy controls?
Do patients with rheumatoid arthritis have impaired autonomic nerve function compared to healthy controls?
Severe rheumatoid arthritis may be accompanied by autonomic neuropathy, primarily vagal in origin, evidenced by abnormal heart rate reactions to tilting.
Autonomic nerve function was evaluated by deep breathing and tilt table tests in 17 patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and in 24 healthy control subjects. The results showed that all RA patients had increased heart rates at rest, irrespective of the severity of the disease. Patients with severe RA had increased systolic and diastolic blood pressures before and after tilting. Pronounced abnormalities in the immediate heart rate reaction to tilting indicating autonomic neuropathy (AN) were also demonstrated in patients with severe RA. The abnormal immediate reaction to tilting was mainly the result of vagal neuropathy. From the present study it is evident that severe RA may be accompanied by AN and the consequences need to be elucidated.
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Leden et al. (1983) studied this question.
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