[The length of survival and cause of death in Huntington chorea].
The authors studied in retrospect the length of survival and the causes of death of 12 swiss patients with Huntington's chorea. These patients were born between 1873 and 1897 and were first admitted to the Psychiatric University Hospital of Cery before their 65th year. Clinically, the age of onset of the disease was between 34 and 41 years for the female patients. It was earlier in those patients to whom the disease was transmitted by the father than by the mother. The average length of survival was 13 years and 2 months. In general, the later the disease appeared, the longer the patients survived. The most frequent cause of death in this study is bronchopneumonia. The next is secondary to a cachectic and bedridden state associated with advanced dementia, which seems to be the natural evolution of the disease. The absence of death by suicide in these patients can be explained by the small size of our sample but probably also by the fact the patients were hospitalized in a late phase of the disease in which the risk of suicide seems lower.
Bryois
C
C
Hôpital Psychiatrique Universitaire de Cery, Prilly.
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002423:Cause of Death; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006816:Huntington Disease / Q000401:mortality*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013557:Switzerland
Durée de survie et causes de décès des chorées de Huntington.