A new study suggests the correlation of heart rate variability with disease disability in multiple sclerosis patients as autonomic dysfunction is common in such patients. The study evaluated the feasibility of heart rate variability as a measure of autonomic dysfunction using wearable sensors and its association with clinical measures of disease activity in 29 multiple sclerosis patients over 2 weeks. A significant association of heart rate variability metrics with the COMPASS-31 and the EDSS was observed. Quantification of autonomic dysfunction was best achieved in the early morning hours by the normalized high frequency power, normalized low frequency power, pnn50 and RMSSD. Calculation of heart rate variability was found to be feasible, reliable and was better than standard ECG based methods. Wearable sensors could be used to assess and follow the longitudinal changes in multiple sclerosis patients to further elaborate the impact of autonomic dysfunction and its association with neurologic impairment during the disease course.
