Nondipping in Parkinson's Disease

Abstract EN

The aim of this study was to identify patients with Parkinson's disease who showed loss or decrease of nocturnal blood pressure fall (nondipper patients) as a marker of autonomic dysfunction.

Presence or absence of orthostatic hypotension was considered to investigate whether alterations in circadian blood pressure pattern are associated with posture-related dysregulation of blood pressure.

Methods.

40 patients with Parkinson's disease underwent 24-hour blood pressure monitoring.

21 patients were diagnosed with arterial hypertension and received anti-hypertensive drugs.

Nondipper patients were defined as having nocturnal decrease of mean systolic and diastolic blood pressure less than 10%.

Presence or absence of orthostatic hypotension was determined by Schellong's test.

Results.

We identified 35 nondipper patients (88%).

Nondipping was detected in 20 patients with orthostatic hypotension (95%) and in 15 patients without orthostatic hypotension (79%).

18 patients with hypertensive and 22 patients with normal blood pressure values were detected.

Conclusions.

In conclusion 24-hour blood pressure monitoring showed a high prevalence of nondipping in 40 patients with Parkinson's disease with and without orthostatic hypotension independent of coexisting arterial hypertension and antihypertensive treatment.

24-hour blood pressure monitoring may be useful to identify non-dipping as a marker of autonomic dysfunction in patients with Parkinson's disease.