Elastic Abdominal Binders Attenuate Orthostatic Hypotension in Parkinson's Disease

Background and Methods To investigate the possible efficacy of an elastic abdominal binder to control orthostatic hypotension ( OH ) associated with Parkinson's disease ( PD ), 15 patients with PD and OH were enrolled in a single‐blind crossover study with elastic abdominal versus placebo binder on two different days, separated by a 1‐day interval, followed by a 4‐week open‐label follow‐up. Results Intervention significantly reduced blood pressure fall upon tilting. The mean difference (standard deviation; 95% confidence intervals) between abdominal binder versus placebo was +10 mm Hg (10.2; +3.5, +16.5; P = 0.006). No significant effect on supine mean blood pressure values was observed compared to placebo ( P = 0.3). Symptoms of OH decreased significantly during follow‐up ( P = 0.003), as assessed by means of the Orthostatic Hypotension Questionnaire. Conclusions Our findings suggest that elastic abdominal binders may be a simple complementary tool to alleviate OH in PD .