Conclusions
Water drinking elicits a profound pressor response in autonomic failure patients. It increases blood pressure to a lesser degree in tetraplegic patients, cardiac transplant recipients, and older healthy subjects. Blood pressure does not change in healthy young subjects. The haemodynamic response to water drinking appears to be mediated through sympathetic activation via an unknown mechanism. Water drinking improves orthostatic responses in patients with orthostatic hypotension and orthostatic tachycardia, and delays the onset of neurocardiogenic syncope in healthy subjects. Thus, water drinking may be a promising and essentially cost-free intervention for all these conditions, either as monotherapy or in conjunction with other non-pharmacological or pharmacological treatments.
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Jordan, J. (2006). Water Ingestion As Prophylaxis Against Syncope: Fact or Fancy?. In: Raviele, A. (eds) Cardiac Arrhythmias 2005. Springer, Milano. https://doi.org/10.1007/88-470-0371-7_82
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/88-470-0371-7_82
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