Huntington's Disease

Symptoms, Findings, and Clinical Course of Huntington's Disease

The symptoms of HD may vary in range and severity, age at onset, and rate of clinical progression from patient to patient–including among members of the same family (kindred). The peak age of adult-onset HD is between 35 to 50 years. A small percentage of patients develop symptoms before age 20; this is a juvenile variant of the disease. Evidence suggests that early onset is associated with increased severity as well as more rapid disease progression. For example, in adult-onset HD, disease duration is typically about 15 to 20 years. However, in juvenile HD, the disease course tends to have duration of approximately 8 to 10 years.

HD is classically associated with progressive emotional, cognitive, and motor disturbances. Early, relatively subtle symptoms (prodromal phase) may precede outright disease onset by several years.

Initial characteristic signs may include:

• Slight personality changes
• Forgetfulness
• Clumsiness
• Gradual development of random, brief, "fidgeting" movements of the fingers or toes