Disseminated abnormalities of cardiovascular autonomic functions in multiple sclerosis.

To determine whether patients with MS had abnormalities of autonomic cardiovascular functions, we evaluated 22 MS patients and 20 control subjects with a battery of six standardized tests. The two groups differed on three tests: heart rate and blood pressure responses to standing, and the cold-face test. One-half of the MS patients had abnormalities on two or more tests, but individual patients showed diverse abnormality patterns. Abnormalities of neural cardiovascular regulation are frequent in MS patients and show a heterogeneous pattern, consistent with scattered plaques.