| Title | Relationships between clinical characteristics and nocturnal cardiac autonomic activity in Parkinson\'s disease. | ||
| Author | Covassin, Naima; Neikrug, Ariel B; Liu, Lianqi; Maglione, Jeanne; Natarajan, Loki; Corey-Bloom, Jody; Loredo, Jose S; Palmer, Barton W; Redwine, Laura S; Ancoli-Israel, Sonia | ||
| Journal | Auton Neurosci | Publication Year/Month | 2012-Nov |
| PMID | 23141523 | PMCID | PMC3501606 |
| Affiliation | 1.Department of General Psychology, University of Padova, Italy. | ||
BACKGROUND: The aim of the present study was to explore the association between Parkinson\'s disease (PD) clinical characteristics and cardiac autonomic control across sleep stages. METHODS: Frequency-domain heart rate variability (HRV) measures were estimated in 18 PD patients undergoing a night of polysomnography. RESULTS: Significant relationships were found between PD severity and nocturnal HRV indices. The associations were restricted to rapid eye movement (R) sleep. CONCLUSIONS: The progressive nocturnal cardiac autonomic impairment occurring with more severe PD can be subclinical emerging only during conditions requiring active modulation of physiological functions such as R-sleep.