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Spinocerebellar ataxias type 1, 2 and 3: a study of heart rate variability
Author(s) -
Pradhan C.,
Yashavantha B. S.,
Pal P. K.,
Sathyaprabha T. N.
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
acta neurologica scandinavica
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.967
H-Index - 95
eISSN - 1600-0404
pISSN - 0001-6314
DOI - 10.1111/j.1600-0404.2007.00945.x
Subject(s) - spinocerebellar ataxia , heart rate variability , cardiology , medicine , rr interval , heart rate , disease , blood pressure
Objective – To detect cardiac autonomic dysfunction, using analysis of heart rate variability in genetically defined spinocerebellar ataxias (SCA). Materials and methods – Consecutive RR intervals were analyzed for time‐ and frequency‐ domain parameters in 22 genotypically proven SCA patients (SCA1 = 11, SCA2 = 6 and SCA3 = 5) and compared with that of age‐ and gender‐ matched controls. Results – Reduction in the standard deviation of RR interval (RR_SD) was seen in 72.7% of SCA patients. There was a reduction in both the parasympathetic and sympathetic parameters in SCA without any change in the ratio of low‐ to high‐ frequency power. In SCA1, there was a significant negative correlation between RR_SD and duration of illness but not with the CAG repeat lengths of the abnormal allele. Small sample size of SCA2 and SCA3 precluded similar comparison. Conclusions – Cardiac autonomic dysfunction, predominantly parasympathetic, was seen in SCA, and the severity correlated with the duration of illness in SCA1.