{"title":"Sex-Specific Differences in the Progression of Huntington's Disease Symptoms - A National Study in China.","authors":"Shanquan Chen, Huanyu Zhang, Jiazhou Yu, Xi Cao, Shuyang Zhang, Dong Dong","doi":"10.1159/000539131","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Introduction: </strong>Huntington's disease (HD) is a rare, inherited neurodegenerative disorder. Despite extensive research on symptom progression and sex differences in Western populations, little is known about these aspects within the Chinese context. The objective of this study was to investigate the temporal trends of symptoms in individuals with HD in China.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>A nationwide cross-sectional study was conducted in Chinese individuals diagnosed with HD. Symptom progression over time, encompassing physical, psychiatric, and cognitive symptoms, was self-reported. We calculated the proportions of individuals who currently had each symptom by disease duration, and tested corresponding temporal trends by linear regression analyses.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>A total of 269 individuals diagnosed with HD were included. Specific symptoms were found to progress more significantly in males compared to females over time, including psychotic symptoms (p = 0.007), urinary incontinence (p = 0.013), reduced concentration (p = 0.005), font alteration (p = 0.029), atypical facial expression (p = 0.037), and suicidal ideation (p = 0.047). In terms of cognitive and psychiatric symptoms, no significant temporal trends were identified in females, while males demonstrated significant increasing trends, with reduced concentration (p = 0.005) and psychotic symptoms (p = 0.007) standing out.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>This study emphasizes the existence of sex-specific symptom progression in HD within the Chinese population, underscoring the importance of considering sex in clinical practice. Further research should investigate the mechanisms behind these differences and explore tailored treatment options.</p>","PeriodicalId":54730,"journal":{"name":"Neuroepidemiology","volume":" ","pages":"1-9"},"PeriodicalIF":3.2000,"publicationDate":"2024-05-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Neuroepidemiology","FirstCategoryId":"3","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1159/000539131","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"CLINICAL NEUROLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Introduction: Huntington's disease (HD) is a rare, inherited neurodegenerative disorder. Despite extensive research on symptom progression and sex differences in Western populations, little is known about these aspects within the Chinese context. The objective of this study was to investigate the temporal trends of symptoms in individuals with HD in China.
Methods: A nationwide cross-sectional study was conducted in Chinese individuals diagnosed with HD. Symptom progression over time, encompassing physical, psychiatric, and cognitive symptoms, was self-reported. We calculated the proportions of individuals who currently had each symptom by disease duration, and tested corresponding temporal trends by linear regression analyses.
Results: A total of 269 individuals diagnosed with HD were included. Specific symptoms were found to progress more significantly in males compared to females over time, including psychotic symptoms (p = 0.007), urinary incontinence (p = 0.013), reduced concentration (p = 0.005), font alteration (p = 0.029), atypical facial expression (p = 0.037), and suicidal ideation (p = 0.047). In terms of cognitive and psychiatric symptoms, no significant temporal trends were identified in females, while males demonstrated significant increasing trends, with reduced concentration (p = 0.005) and psychotic symptoms (p = 0.007) standing out.
Conclusions: This study emphasizes the existence of sex-specific symptom progression in HD within the Chinese population, underscoring the importance of considering sex in clinical practice. Further research should investigate the mechanisms behind these differences and explore tailored treatment options.
背景 亨廷顿氏病(Huntington's disease,HD)是一种罕见的遗传性神经退行性疾病。尽管对西方人群的症状进展和性别差异进行了广泛的研究,但对中国人在这些方面的情况却知之甚少。目的 调查中国 HD 患者症状的时间趋势。方法 在全国范围内对确诊为 HD 的中国患者进行横断面研究。通过自我报告随时间推移出现的症状,包括躯体症状、精神症状和认知症状。我们按病程计算了目前患有各种症状的患者比例,并通过衬线回归分析检验了相应的时间趋势。结果 共纳入了 269 名确诊为 HD 的患者。结果发现,随着时间的推移,男性的特定症状比女性更为显著,包括精神病性症状(p=0.007)、尿失禁(p=0.013)、注意力不集中(p=0.005)、字体改变(p=0.029)、非典型面部表情(p=0.037)和自杀意念(p=0.047)。在认知症状和精神症状方面,女性没有发现明显的时间趋势,而男性则表现出明显的增长趋势,其中注意力不集中(p=0.005)和精神症状(p=0.007)最为突出。结论 本研究强调了在中国人群中存在HD性别特异性症状进展,强调了在临床实践中考虑性别因素的重要性。进一步的研究应探讨这些差异背后的机制,并探索有针对性的治疗方案。
期刊介绍:
''Neuroepidemiology'' is the only internationally recognised peer-reviewed periodical devoted to descriptive, analytical and experimental studies in the epidemiology of neurologic disease. The scope of the journal expands the boundaries of traditional clinical neurology by providing new insights regarding the etiology, determinants, distribution, management and prevention of diseases of the nervous system.