Prevalence of autonomic dysfunction and its influencing factors in Chinese elderly

Objective To investigate the prevalence of autonomic dysfunction and its influencing factors in the elderly in Jizhou community of Tianjin. Methods By using a cross-sectional study, a questionnaire survey was conducted in the elderly in order to investigate the prevalence of autonomic dysfunction and its influencing factors. Results A total of 1 292 elderly patients were enrolled.Of them, 196 cases had autonomic dysfunction(15.2%, 196/1 292). The main symptoms of autonomic dysfunction were frequent urination, urination urgency, urination incontinence(19.7%, 255/1 292)and constipation(15.9%, 205/1 292). Multivariate Logistic regression analysis showed that women(OR=1.808, 95%CI: 1.253~2.607), 75-85 years of age(OR=1.573, 95%CI: 1.109~2.232), general anesthesia history(OR=1.552, 95%CI: 1.044~2.307), sleep disorders(OR=2.906, 95%CI: 1.506~2.916), diabetes(OR=1.791, 95%CI: 1.197~2.678)and headache(OR=2.589, 95%CI: 1.482~4.520)were risk factors for autonomic dysfunction. Conclusions The prevalence of autonomic dysfunction is high in the elderly in Jizhou community of Tianjin city.It is necessary to pay great attention to potential risk factors of autonomic dysfunction in the elderly.And the autonomic dysfunction symptoms should be diagnosed and treated as early as possible. Key words: Autonomic nervous system diseases; Prevalence; Epidemiologic factors; Cross-sectional studies