Cardiovascular autonomic nervous system dysfunction in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus

Abstract

Systemic lupus erythematosus is a multi-system autoimmune connective tissue disorder that commonly affects women of child-bearing age. Neurological involvement is a well-documented issue in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus, however, little is known about the involvement of the autonomic nervous system. Previous studies on autonomic nervous system found manifestations of parasympathetic and sympathetic dysfunction in variable proportions in patients with autoimmune rheumatic diseases (between 24% and 100% in various tests), this may be due to that symptoms of autonomic dysfunction are nonspecific and because the tests to detect autonomic dysfunction are not routinely employed in clinical practice.