Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2007 Feb 1;61(3):415-8.
doi: 10.1016/j.biopsych.2006.04.034. Epub 2006 Jul 12.

Probability of obsessive and compulsive symptoms in Huntington's disease

Leigh J Beglinger  1 , Douglas R Langbehn, Kevin Duff, Laura Stierman, Donald W Black, Carissa Nehl, Karen Anderson, Elizabeth Penziner, Jane S Paulsen; Huntington Study Group Investigators
Affiliations

Probability of obsessive and compulsive symptoms in Huntington's disease

Leigh J Beglinger et al. Biol Psychiatry. .

Abstract

Background: The purpose of this study was to examine the probability of obsessive and compulsive (OC) symptoms across stages of Huntington's disease (HD) with both cross sectional and longitudinal data.

Methods: We present the largest sample to date of individuals at risk for HD (N = 3964). Obsessive and compulsive symptoms were assessed with the Unified Huntington's Disease Rating Scale OC items.

Results: The probability of meeting the threshold for obsessions and compulsions increased with greater disease severity. Those with no motor abnormalities ("at risk") had a 7% probability of obsessions and a 3.5% probability of compulsions; the peak probability for obsessions (24%) and compulsions (12%) occurred in patients with advanced disease with significant functional disability.

Conclusions: The probability of OC symptoms is more than three times greater by stages 3 and 4 (clearly manifest disease) than in our at-risk group with no apparent motor abnormalities.

PubMed Disclaimer

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources