Characterization of neuropsychiatric symptoms in a group of individuals with manifest or pre-motor Huntington’s disease in Medellín, Colombia

Abstract

Introduction Huntington’s disease (HD) is a rare (1-9/100 000), inherited disease characterized by an elongated CAG repeat on chromosome 4p, leading to a degeneration of neurons. Also, psychiatric symptoms are very common in the early stage and may appear before motor symptoms. Objectives To characterize neuropsychiatric symptoms in a group of individuals with manifest or pre-motor Huntington’s disease in Medellín, Colombia. Methods Data obtained from clinical records of individuals with HD (motor-manifest or pre-motor with triplets count) evaluated for ENROLL-HD project in the Group of Neuroscience of Antioquia. We explored variables related to substances abuse, neuropsychiatric symptoms, the respective age of onset, sex, and triplet count when available. Results Twenty-six (53%) were women, 8% had a familiar history of psychotic illness in a first-degree relative and 88% presented motor symptoms. Also, 59% had a history of depression, 53% irritability, 57% aggressiveness, 34% apathy, 29% perseverative/obsessive behavior, 14% psychosis, and 30% mild cognitive impairment. Ten individuals (20%) had motor without neuropsychiatric symptoms. Also, thirty-seven individuals (76%) presented motor and neuropsychiatric symptoms; of these, 41% had neuropsychiatric symptoms before motor symptoms. No psychiatric symptoms were associated with the use of alcohol, cigarettes, or drugs of abuse. Conclusions Neuropsychiatric symptoms are highly prevalent among individuals with HD and studies oriented to create relevant knowledge for the development of advice oriented to people with this disease are necessary. Disclosure No significant relationships.

Keywords

• Huntington’s disease
• Motor symptoms
• Neuropsychiatric symptoms
• Chorea