ORIGINAL ARTICLE Autonomic neuropathy in patients with hepatic cirrhosis

Background: Autonomic neuropathy has been reported in patients with alcoholic liver disease but information on its occurrence in patients with non-alcoholic liver disease is contradictory. Aim: To assess autonomic functions in patients with alcoholic and non-alcoholic liver disease. Study design: Autonomic function using five standard tests was examined in 20 cirrhotics (10 alco-holics and 10 non-alcoholics) and 20 age and sex matched controls. The extent of autonomic dysfunc-tion was determined in the patients and a comparison between the characteristics of patients with and without autonomic neuropathy was made. Results: Sixteen (80%) of the cirrhotic subjects were found to have evidence of autonomic neuropathy. Of these, three (15%) patients had early parasympathetic damage, five (25%) had definite parasym-pathetic damage, and eight (40%) had combined (that is, both parasympathetic and sympathetic) damage. Nine (90%) of the alcoholics and seven (70%) of the non-alcoholics had autonomic dysfunc-tion. Only one patient belonging to the alcoholic group had clinical evidence of peripheral neuropathy. Moreover, there was no significant association between subjective symptoms of autonomic neuropathy and objective evidence of autonomic damage as assessed by autonomic function tests. Autonomic dys-function was significantly more frequent in advanced liver disease compared with early liver damage