Frequency of Orthostatic Hypotension in Parkinson’s Disease

Abstract

Background: Parkinson’s Diseases (PD) cause some non-motor issues that could lead to disability. One of such determinal non-motor symptoms is orthostatic hypotension (OH) which is still understudied in our local setting despite of its high prevalence worldwide among patients of PD. Aim: To determine frequency of orthostatic hypotension in Parkinson’s disease Methods: This Cross-sectional study was conducted at Department of Neurology, Mayo Hospital, Lahore for 6 months after the approval of synopsis [April 9, 2018 till Oct 9, 2018]. A sample of 95 cases was selected using non probability consecutive sampling from 95 patients of Parkinson’s Disease aged 25 years and more. After taking consent from patient and recording sociodemographic information, a lying-to-standing orthostatic test was performed to evaluate the orthostatic hypotension and SBP and DBP was recorded. All data was collected using a self structured proforma and analyzed using SPSS v 21. Results: The mean age of cases was 47.46 ± 8.97 years with male to female ratio of 1.97:1. The mean systolic and diastolic blood pressure was 120.60 ± 11.80 and 86.20 ± 8.68 respectively. The frequency of orthostatic hypotension was seen in 51(53.7%) while other 44(46.3%) cases did not have orthostatic hypotension. Conclusion: Through the findings of this study we conclude that frequency of orthostatic hypotension in Parkinson’s disease is very much high i.e. 53.7% with highest frequency in cases with longer duration of disease. Keywords: Autonomic diseases, Parkinson’s disease, Systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, Orthostatic hypotension,