Mehanna R, Jankovic J. Systemic Symptoms in Huntington's Disease: A Comprehensive Review.
Mov Disord Clin Pract 2024;
11:453-464. [PMID:
38529740 PMCID:
PMC11078495 DOI:
10.1002/mdc3.14029]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/02/2023] [Revised: 02/26/2024] [Accepted: 03/12/2024] [Indexed: 03/27/2024] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND
Although Huntington's disease (HD) is usually thought of as a triad of motor, cognitive, and psychiatric symptoms, there is growing appreciation of HD as a systemic illness affecting the entire body.
OBJECTIVES
This review aims to draw attention to these systemic non-motor symptoms in HD.
METHODS
We identified relevant studies published in English by searching MEDLINE (from 1966 to September 2023), using the following subject headings: Huntington disease, autonomic, systemic, cardiovascular, respiratory, gastrointestinal, urinary, sexual and cutaneous, and additional specific symptoms.
RESULTS
Data from 123 articles were critically reviewed with focus on systemic features associated with HD, such as cardiovascular, respiratory, gastrointestinal, urinary, sexual and sweating.
CONCLUSION
This systematic review draws attention to a variety of systemic and autonomic co-morbidities in patients with HD. Not all of them correlate with the severity of the primary HD symptoms or CAG repeats. More research is needed to better understand the pathophysiology and treatment of systemic and autonomic dysfunction in HD.
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