Ventilatory Response to Hypercapnia in Dementia with Lewy Bodies

Fig. 15.1

Reduced respiratory response to hypercapnia

The indices of VRH of the DLB patients, AD patients, and controls were 0.156 ± 0.10, 0.431 ± 0.04, and 0.466 ± 0.09, respectively (Fig. 15.2). VRH in DLB patients was significantly lower than that of AD patients ( p < 0.001) and the controls ( p < 0.001), while there was no statistical difference between the AD patients and controls (Table 15.1 and Fig. 15.2). All DLB patients demonstrated abnormally low VRH (normal range: male 0.34–1.20, female 0.39–0.95), while all of the AD or control subjects had normal VRH.

Fig. 15.2

Comparison of respiratory response to hypercapnia among DLB, AD, and healthy elderly subjects (Figure adapted from Ref. [7])

Table 15.1

Autonomic failures in DLB cases

	Sex	Age	Three core symptoms	MMSE	Barthel index	Duration from onset (years)	Yahr	Reduced occipital lobe perfusion in SPECT	Reduced MIBG H/M ratio	Ventilatory response to hypercapnia
1	M	70	Full	9	70	5	2	+	+	0.154
2	F	75	Full	21	70	8	3	+	+	0.322
3	F	56	VH(−)	27	100	1	2	+	+	0.176
4	F	77	Full	27	100	5	2	+	+	0.011
5	F	68	VH(−)	11	100	4	2	–	+	0.198
6	F	70	P(−)	21	95	1	0	–	–	0.067
7	M	73	Full	17	90	2	2	+	+	0.104
8	F	63	Full	18	80	5	2	–	+	0.257
9	F	55	Full	10	75	3	2	+	–	0.100
10	F	61	VH(−)	15	80	3	1	+	–	0.031
11	M	74	VH(−)	18	100	3	1	+	+	0.112
12	F	73	P(−)	18	100	5	0	+	–	0.097
13	M	74	Full	17	80	1	1	+	+	0.226
14	M	65	Full	25	100	5	1	+	+	0.332