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Goal-directedness deficit in Huntington's disease
Lee-Anne Morris1,2, Sanjay Manohar3,4, Kyla-Louise Horne5,6
1Department of Medicine, University of Otago, Christchurch, New Zealand. leeanne.morris@nzbri.org.
Insights
In Huntington's disease (HD), apathy and impulsive behavior overlap specifically in goal-directedness, not other dimensions. These behavioral components remained stable over one year in people with HD and controls.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Behavioral Science
- Genetics
Background:
- Apathy and impulsive behavior are common in Huntington's disease (HD).
- These behavioral syndromes are complex and multidimensional.
- Understanding their relationship and stability over time is crucial for HD management.
Purpose of the Study:
- To identify specific dimensions of apathy and impulsive behavior that co-occur in HD.
- To examine the stability of these dimensions over a one-year period.
- To investigate the relationship between these dimensions and personality factors.
Main Methods:
- Participants with HD and controls completed apathy and impulsive behavior scales at baseline and 1-year follow-up.
- Principal component analysis was used to identify underlying components.
- Linear mixed models analyzed group and timepoint differences.
Main Results:
- Three distinct components emerged, with one strongly linking apathy and impulsive behavior dimensions related to goal-directedness (attention, planning, initiation, perseverance).
- Individuals with HD showed significantly worse scores on the goal-directedness component compared to controls.
- All identified components demonstrated stability over the one-year study period.
Conclusions:
- The clinical overlap between apathy and impulsive behavior in Huntington's disease is primarily driven by deficits in goal-directedness.
- These goal-directedness deficits represent a stable characteristic in HD over time.
- The identified components align with factors of the five-factor personality model, specifically conscientiousness, extraversion, and neuroticism.
Abstract:
Apathy and impulsive behaviour co-occur in Huntington's disease (HD), but these debilitating behavioural syndromes are multidimensional constructs, raising the question of which specific dimensions drive this relationship and the stability of the co-occurring dimensions across time. People with HD and controls completed multidimensional apathy and impulsive behaviour scales at baseline and 1-year follow-up. A principal component analysis was performed on pooled data (n = 109) to identify components and factor loadings of subscales. Linear mixed models were used to examine differences in components between groups and timepoints. Three meaningful components emerged. Component 1 comprised positive loading for dimensions of apathy and impulsive behaviour pertaining to goal-directedness, namely attention, planning, initiation, and perseverance. In contrast, other dimensions of apathy and impulsive behaviour loaded onto components two and three in opposite directions. People with HD only scored worse than controls on the goal-directedness component. All components remained stable over time and closely resembled factors from the five-factor personality model. Component 1 mapped onto the factor conscientiousness, component 2 to extraversion, and component 3 to neuroticism. The clinical overlap between apathy and impulsive behaviour in HD relates to goal-directedness, whilst other dimensions of these constructs did not overlap.
