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.