1 Clinical Trials for Various Conditions
Current management of hypertension in PD motor fluctuators is flawed. The current practice often is to treat transient hypertensive spikes reported by patients or measured in clinics with anti-hypertensive medications. This may contribute to morbidity by worsening orthostatic hypotension and increasing fall risk. There is a scarcity of literature on this subject and there is no documentation of severe hypertension with rises in systolic blood pressure exceeding 50% of baseline occurring during motor "OFF". There are two studies that have demonstrated that blood pressure fluctuation can occur in motor fluctuators during the "OFF" state1,2. The study by Baratti et al measured blood pressure in 13 Parkinson's disease patients, 7 with motor fluctuations and 6 without fluctuations. In the fluctuators, the mean systolic/diastolic blood pressures were significantly higher than the non-fluctuators during the "OFF" state but not the "ON" state.