Visit-to-visit systolic blood pressure variability is associated with increased fatigue symptoms in multiple sclerosis patients

Myla D Goldman; Jennifer M Lobo; Seulgi Min; Ryan Canissario; Min-Woong Sohn

doi:10.1016/j.msard.2022.104194

Visit-to-visit systolic blood pressure variability is associated with increased fatigue symptoms in multiple sclerosis patients

Mult Scler Relat Disord. 2022 Dec:68:104194. doi: 10.1016/j.msard.2022.104194. Epub 2022 Sep 25.

Authors

Myla D Goldman¹, Jennifer M Lobo², Seulgi Min³, Ryan Canissario⁴, Min-Woong Sohn⁵

Affiliations

¹ Department of Neurology, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA, USA.
² Department of Public Health Sciences, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, USA.
³ Liberty University College of Osteopathic Medicine, Lynchburg, VA, USA.
⁴ Department of Neurology, University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, NY, USA.
⁵ Department of Health Management and Policy, University of Kentucky, 760 Press Avenue, Room 362, Lexington, KY, USA. Electronic address: min-woong.sohn@uky.edu.

PMID: 36206676
DOI: 10.1016/j.msard.2022.104194

Abstract

Objective: To evaluate the relationship between visit-to-visit systolic blood pressure variability (SBPv) and fatigue symptoms in Multiple Sclerosis (MS) patients.

Methods: This is a cross-sectional study using data for MS patients who completed the Fatigue Subscale in the Performance Scales (PS), a validated, self-reported measure of MS-related disability, between 2011 and 2015 at an academic medical center. Those who had at least 3 available SBP measures within the prior 12 months of the survey were included in the analysis. Ordinal logistic regression was used to model fatigue as a function of SBP variability, adjusting for demographic factors and mean SBP.

Results: Data for 91 MS subjects were analyzed. We found that, compared to those with the lowest SBP variability (Tertile 1), subjects in Tertile 2 had 2.2 times higher odds (OR = 2.19; 95% CI, 0.82-5.87; p = 0.120) and those in Tertile 3 (highest variability) 4.2 times higher odds (OR = 4.16; 95% CI, 1.56-11.13; p = 0.005) of being in a higher fatigue level group, independent of age, sex, race/ethnicity, and mean SBP.

Conclusions: Our data show that MS patients with higher SBP variability had a greater degree of fatigue. Future research is needed to further explore this relationship and the potential for therapeutic opportunities to improve fatigue.

Keywords: Autonomics; Blood pressure variability; Fatigue; Multiple sclerosis.

MeSH terms

Blood Pressure / physiology
Cross-Sectional Studies
Humans
Logistic Models
Multiple Sclerosis* / complications
Risk Factors