Heart rate variability biomarkers of leucine-rich repeat kinase 2-associated Parkinson's disease

Leucine-rich repeat kinase 2 (LRRK2) mutations are the most common known cause of both familial and sporadic Parkinson's disease (PD). On a single patient basis, LRRK2-associated PD (LRRK2-PD) and idiopathic PD (iPD) are indistinguishable. Recent evidence suggests that LRRK2-PD may be related to greater vagal activity. This study aimed to explore the potential of standard and novel heart rate variability (HRV) measures to distinguish LRRK2-PD from iPD patients. Support vector machine classifiers, based on HRV features, were used to discriminate between PD types. The combination of two classifiers reached 79% sensitivity and 86% specificity. Cardiac autonomic biomarkers may be useful to accurately distinguish individuals with LRRK2-PD from iPD.