Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 25, 2026
Fractionation for Resolution of Soluble and Insoluble Huntingtin Species
Published on: February 27, 2018
Exploring the predictors of financial impairment in Huntington's disease using the Enroll-HD dataset
Kate L Harris1, Sarah L Mason2, Roger A Barker2,3
1Department of Neurology, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, United States. kate.harris@ucsf.edu.
Insights
Financial dysfunction is common in Huntington's disease (HD). Cognitive and psychiatric factors predict financial impairment, highlighting the need for vigilance against financial exploitation in affected individuals.
Area of Science:
- Neurodegenerative diseases
- Neuroscience
- Genetics
Background:
- Huntington's disease (HD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder.
- Cognitive and behavioral symptoms significantly impact daily living activities, including financial management.
- Understanding financial dysfunction is crucial for patient care and support.
Purpose of the Study:
- To determine the prevalence of financial dysfunction in individuals with Huntington's disease.
- To identify demographic and clinical predictors of financial impairment in both pre-manifest and manifest HD.
- To inform clinical strategies for supporting financial autonomy in HD patients.
Main Methods:
- Analysis of longitudinal data from the Enroll-HD dataset, including pre-manifest gene carriers and HD patients.
- Assessment of financial dysfunction using finance-related items from the Total Functional Capacity (TFC) and Functional Assessment (FA) scales.
- Application of binary logistic regression to identify predictors of financial dysfunction.
Main Results:
- Financial impairment is prevalent in HD gene carriers, with over half requiring financial assistance within five years of diagnosis.
- In manifest HD patients, cognitive impairment, apathy, unemployment, and disease severity predicted financial dysfunction.
- For pre-manifest HD patients, proximity to disease onset and depression were significant predictors.
Conclusions:
- Loss of financial autonomy is a common consequence of Huntington's disease.
- Cognitive and psychiatric factors play a significant role in the development of financial dysfunction.
- Clinicians should proactively identify HD patients at risk of financial exploitation.
Objectives:
Huntington's disease (HD) is a neurodegenerative disease in which cognitive and behavioural symptoms impair the performance of instrumental activities of daily living, including the handling of finances. We sought to determine the prevalence of financial dysfunction in HD, and the demographic and clinical predictors of such impairments.
Methods:
We analysed longitudinal data for pre-manifest gene carriers and HD patients from the Enroll-HD dataset. Financial dysfunction was determined by finance-related items in the Total Functional Capacity (TFC) and Functional Assessment (FA) scales. A binary logistical regression model was used to investigate the predictive value of demographic and clinical factors for the development of financial dysfunction.
Results:
Financial impairment was found to be common in HD gene carriers, and over half required financial assistance within 5 years from diagnosis. Cognitive impairment, apathy, unemployment and disease severity predicted financial dysfunction in manifest patients. For pre-manifest patients, the predictors were proximity to disease onset and depression.
Conclusions:
Loss of financial autonomy is common in HD, and cognitive and psychiatric factors are important in its development. Clinicians must be vigilant to identify patients that may be vulnerable to financial exploitation.
More Related Videos
09:06Whole-brain Segmentation and Change-point Analysis of Anatomical Brain MRI—Application in Premanifest Huntington's Disease
Published on: June 9, 2018
10:52Efficient and Scalable Production of Full-length Human Huntingtin Variants in Mammalian Cells using a Transient Expression System
Published on: December 10, 2021
