Autonomic nervous function in patients with the Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome at Kenyatta National Hospital
Abstract
Thirty five patients (19 males and 16 females), with the acquired immune
deficiency syndrome (AIDS), as defined by the World Health Organization (WHO)
clinical case definition, were studied to establish the prevalence and severity of
autonomic nervous system dysfunction. A battery of 5 simple non-invasive
cardiovascular reflex function tests were used.
The results of the tests were given scores for normal, borderline and abnormal and
the sum of the scores used to classify the severity of autonomic involvement.
All the patients were found to have autonomic dysfunction. 29 (82.90/0) had severe
autonomic neuropathy while 6 (17.1 %) had moderately severe neuropathy. Five
patients (14.3%) did not have symptoms at all yet they had autonomic dysfunction
on testing.
The results confirm that autonomic dysfunction is quite common in AIDS patients
and needs to be taken into consideration in the overall management of these
patients.
Citation
Master of Medicine (internal Medicine) of the University Of Nairobi, 1995Publisher
University of Nairobi, School of Medicine