Abstract
Cerebral palsy (CP) is the most prevalent severe motor disability among children. The aim of this work was to assess autonomic dysfunction in children with cerebral palsy clinically and electrophysiologically .The study was carried out on forty children with cerebral palsy their age ranged from 4-12 years and twenty healthy children with matched age and sex as control group. CP children were subjected to questionnaire for autonomic dysfunction symptoms. Both CP children and Control group were assessed for Sympathetic Skin Response and Heart rate variability. Most of children had quadriplegic spastic cerebral palsy (82.5%). Based on Gross motor function classification system (GMFCS) classification the majority of children were in levels 4 and 5. The prevalence of autonomic dysfunction symptoms was 80% for thermoregulatory abnormalities (cold extremities), chronic constipation 65%, sleep disturbance 52.5%, loss of appetite 47.5%, sweating abnormalities 40% , recurrent nausea and/or vomiting 25%, increased sensitivity to light or dark 22.5% and bloating 15%. The percentage of unelicited Sympathetic skin response in CP children was 47.5% and 60% in upper limbs and lower limbs respectively, all of them were in level 4 and 5 of GMFCS. 20% of CP children had postural hypotension. Mean Heart rate of CP children was significantly increased more than healthy children upon head tilt test. Sympathetic Skin Response and Heart rate variability were proven to be simple and non invasive procedures in investigating autonomic dysfunction in CP children.
Sympathetic Skin Response and Heart Rate Variability in Patients With Huntington Disease
