Assessment of Cardiovascular Autonomic Dysfunction in Multiple System Atrophy

Because heart rate is controlled mainly by the autonomic nervous system, cardiovascular autonomic dysfunction may contribute to the prognosis of patients with multiple system atrophy (MSA). To clarify cardiovascular autonomic dysfunctions in MSA, the authors investigated the relation between blood pressure (BP) and pulse rate (PR), and assessed a power spectral analysis of heart rate variability (HRV) during the clinical course using ambulatory BP and a heart rate monitor for 24 hours. The authors studied seven patients with MSA (five men and two women, aged 61.0 +/- 5.8 years) and seven healthy volunteers (four men and three women, aged 58.0 +/- 6.6 years) without hypertension, heart disease, or intracranial lesions. The MSA group showed abnormal circadian variations of BP and PR and a significantly decreased correlation coefficient between BP and PR. A significant decrease and altered circadian variation also existed in the number of changes in successive R-R intervals greater than 50 msec (RR50) and in the power of the high- and low-frequency component of HRV. The authors observed a significant negative correlation between the duration of illness and the number of changes in successive R-R intervals greater than 50 msec. The characteristic dysautonomia in MSA was a decrease in sympathetic and parasympathetic activity, with an abnormal circadian rhythm of BP and HRV. The balance between sympathetic and parasympathetic activity was also impaired. The parasympathetic modulation represented by RR50 worsened according to the development of the illness. Those autonomic dysfunctions may have affected the cardiovascular systems, which may indicate a poor prognosis in patients with MSA. An analysis of HRV and the circadian rhythm of BP and HRV are useful in evaluating cardiac autonomic dysfunctions in MSA.