Abstract

Background: Idiopathichyperhidrosisischaracterized by excessive sweating, especially of palms of thehands and solesof the feet.Itissaidtobeowingtosympatheticoveractivity.However,autonomicnervoussystemasawholecouldbedysfunctionalin this condition, rather than isolated sympathetic dysfunction. Aims and
Objective: We have undertaken this study to test and compare the autonomic function status in these patients with age- and sex-matched healthy individuals.
Materials and Methods: Twenty, normal subjects with no known autonomic dysfunction as controls and 20, known idiopathic hyperhidrosis patients as subjects were taken for this study. Autonomic function tests were performed in both these groups and the results were compared. Result: Sympathetic function tests, which were performed, were within the normal range whereas parasympathetictests were normalexcept for response to deep breathing test, which showed asignificant increase (Po 0.01) inthehyperhidrosispatients,comparedwiththecontrols.Conclusion:Responsetodeepbreathing,aparasympathetictest,was significantlyincreasedinthepatientswithhyperhidrosiscomparedwithcontrolsinthisstudy;wewillconcludethisstudywith thefindings that the idiopathic hyperhidrosis seems to be a complex dysfunction of autonomicnervous system, which involves autonomic pathways other than those related to excess sweating.