title: Awareness of involuntary movements in Huntington disease.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To determine why patients with Huntington disease are apparently unaware of their involuntary movements.
  
  
  METHODS
  Correlative study using a subjective report questionnaire of physical symptoms and objective measures of neurologic and cognitive dysfunction.
  
  
  METHODS
  Forty patients with Huntington disease attending a regional Huntington disease clinic.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Patients were poor at reporting experiential symptoms of involuntary movements. There was no relationship between self-report of these symptoms and objective indices of motor dysfunction or severity of cognitive impairment. Patients could, however, report secondary consequences of their movement disorder, which correlated highly with nonchoreic indices of motor dysfunction.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Patients with Huntington disease have impaired subjective experience of chorea. Denial of symptoms is likely to have a physiological basis and is not a secondary consequence of patients' cognitive impairment or a psychological defense against a debilitating disease.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Manchester Royal Infirmary, England.
authors.forename: J S
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Snowden
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Craufurd
authors.forename: H L
authors.initials: HL
authors.lastname: Griffiths
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Neary
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002819:Chorea / Q000503:physiopathology*; D003071:Cognition; D003717:Denial, Psychological; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006816:Huntington Disease / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010465:Perception; D012649:Self Concept