AUTHOR=Huang Chih-Cheng , Lai Yun-Ru , Lien Chia-Yi , Cheng Ben-Chung , Kung Chia-Te , Chiang Yi-Fang , Lu Cheng-Hsien 

TITLE=Effectiveness of Different Methods for Baroreflex Sensitivity Assessment in Determining the Severity of Cardiovascular Autonomic Neuropathy in Patients With Parkinson’s Disease

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Neuroscience

VOLUME=Volume 16 - 2022

YEAR=2022

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/neuroscience/articles/10.3389/fnins.2022.833344

DOI=10.3389/fnins.2022.833344

ISSN=1662-453X

ABSTRACT=Background: Autonomic disorders are an important non-motor feature of Parkinson's disease (PD). Baroreflex sensitivity (BRS) is often used as an indicator of cardiovascular autonomic function, and it is clinically significant. Several different methods for BRS assessment have been described. We evaluated and compared the efficiency of several methods of BRS assessment for additional insight into the underlying physiology and the determination of its severity in patients with PD.   
Materials and Methods: Eighty-five patients with PD underwent cardiovascular autonomic testing. The Composite Autonomic Scoring Scale (CASS) was used to grade the severity of autonomic impairment and to define the presence of cardiovascular autonomic neuropathy (CAN). BRS was assessed using the Valsalva maneuver (BRS_VM). In addition, spontaneous BRS was computed using the sequence method and spectral method.
Results and Conclusion: There was considerable agreement between the different methods of BRS assessment. Nevertheless, BRS_VM exhibited a higher degree of correlation with cardiovascular autonomic function than spontaneous BRS indexes obtained by sequence or spectral method. BRS_VM, rather than spontaneous BRS, also had a predictive value for the presence of CAN to diagnostic criteria by the CASS method in patients with PD.