Value of sympathetic skin response in assessing autonomic dysfunction in Parkinson's disease

Abstract

Objective To assess the value of detecting sympathetic skin response (SSR) in the diagnosis of autonomic dysfunction in patients with Parkinson disease (PD). Methods SSR measurement was performed in 47 PD patients and 20 healthy control subjects and the results were compared. The SSR was also comparatively analyzed between patients with and those without autonomic dysfimction. Results Compared with the healthy controls, the PD patients showed significantly lowered mean amplitude (2.56±1.47 vs 1.87±0.26, P<0.05) and prolonged latency (1.42±0.29 vs 1.55± 0.18, P<0.05) of the SSR in the upper limbs, with also lowered mean amplitude (0.76±0.39 vs 0.49±0.21, P<0.05) and prolonged latency (2.04±0.27 vs 2.13±0.16, P<0.05) in the lower limbs. Compared with the PD patients without autonomic dysfunction, those having autonomic dysfunction showed significantly lowered mean amplitude (1.89±0.33 vs 1.75±0.21, P<0.05) and prolonged latency (1.53±0.15 vs 1.56±0.17, P<0.05) of SSR in the upper limbs and lowered mean amplitude (0.51±0.17 vs 0.46±0.20,P<0.05) and prolonged latency (2.08±0.24 vs 2.17±0.18, P<0.05) in the lower limbs. Conclusion The results of SSR measurements are consistent with the clinical manifestations of the PD patients. SSR can be of value in the diagnosis of autonomic nerve dysfunction in PD. Key words: Parkinson's diease; Sympathetic skin response; Autonomic nerve dysfunction