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. 2010 Jul;24(4):435-42.
doi: 10.1037/a0018905.

Self-paced timing detects and tracks change in prodromal Huntington disease

Kelly C Rowe  1 , Jane S Paulsen, Douglas R Langbehn, Kevin Duff, Leigh J Beglinger, Chiachi Wang, Justin J F O'Rourke, Julie C Stout, David J Moser
Affiliations

Self-paced timing detects and tracks change in prodromal Huntington disease

Kelly C Rowe et al. Neuropsychology. 2010 Jul.

Abstract

Objective: This study compares self-paced timing performance (cross-sectionally and longitudinally) between participants with prodromal Huntington's disease (pr-HD) and a comparison group of gene non-expanded participants from affected families (NC).

Method: Participants (747 pr-HD: 188 NC) listened to tones presented at 550-ms intervals, matched that pace by tapping response keys and continued the rhythm (self-paced) after the tone had stopped. Standardized cross-sectional and longitudinal linear models examined the relationships between self-paced timing precision and estimated proximity to diagnosis, and other demographic factors.

Results: Pr-HD participants showed significantly less timing precision than NC. Comparison of pr-HD and NC participants showed a significant performance difference on two task administration conditions (dominant hand: p < .0001; alternating thumbs: p < .0001). Additionally, estimated proximity to diagnosis was related to timing precision in both conditions, (dominant hand: t = -11.14, df = 920, p < .0001; alternating thumbs: t = -11.32, df = 918, p < .0001). Longitudinal modeling showed that pr-HD participants worsen more quickly at the task than the NC group, and rate of decline increases with estimated proximity to diagnosis in both conditions (dominant hand: t = -2.85, df = 417, p = .0045; alternating thumbs: t = -3.56, df = 445, p = .0004). Effect sizes based on adjusted mean annual change ranged from -0.34 to 0.25 in the longitudinal model.

Conclusions: The self-paced timing paradigm has potential for use as a screening tool and outcome measure in pr-HD clinical trials to gauge therapeutically mediated improvement or maintenance of function.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Effect of probability of 5-year diagnosis vs. timing precision Note. Precision is the reciprocal of standard deviation of mean inter-tap interval during the alternating thumbs self-paced tapping task in pr-HD participants. The model controlled for effects of gender, age, education, gene status, music, and typing experience. Table shows decreasing self-paced tapping precision as pr-HD participants approach diagnosis. In this graph, precision is centered at the group mean.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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