Huntington's Disease: Unique Problems or Similar Impact to Other Degenerative Neurological Disorders?

Copyright: © 2017 Smith S. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Huntington’s disease (HD) is strikingly different from other progressive neurological disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease (AD) in many ways. For example, HD is inherited as a dominant genetic trait, with children of affected parents being at 50% risk of developing symptoms in their own midlife [1] whereas the etiology of AD is multifactorial [2]. First manifestation of HD symptoms at the age of 60 years is regarded as ‘late onset’ [3] while AD symptoms occurring prior to 65 years of age identifies ‘Early onset AD’ [4]. The choreic movement disorder, psychiatric problems and cognitive decline associated with HD are among the distinguishing features referred to as the ‘unique constellation of HD signs and symptoms’ [5]. Dorey et al. suggest that these HD features cannot be captured when attempting to measure quality of life in people with HD using a generic quality of life instrument, and suggested this supported the need for a HD diseasespecific tool.