Fluency in Prodromal Huntington’s Disease

What is it about?

This study examines nonverbal (design) and verbal (phonemic and semantic) fluency in prodromal Huntington’s disease (HD). An accumulating body of research indicates subtle deficits in cognitive functioning among prodromal mutation carriers for HD. It is important to elucidate further the markers of transition from asymptomatic to symptomatic stages. Performance was compared between 32 mutation carriers and 38 noncarriers in order to examine the magnitude of impairment across fluency tasks. The results indicate that both nonverbal and verbal fluency are sensitive to subtle impairment in prodromal HD, with greater impairment in nonverbal fluency.

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Why is it important?

The pattern of results indicates that subtle cognitive deficits exist in prodromal HD, and that less structured tasks with high executive demands are the most sensitive in detecting divergence from the normal range of functioning. These selective impairments can be attributed to the early involvement of frontostriatal circuitry and frontal lobes, followed by impact on the temporal lobes in the slow progression of HD.