Incidence, course, and predictors of apathy in Huntington's disease: a two-year prospective study.
This study examined the incidence and course of apathy in subjects with Huntington's disease (HD). Our results showed that at follow-up 14% of the subjects free of apathy at baseline had developed apathy. In these subjects, a lower baseline Mini-Mental State Exam score predicted incidence of apathy. Of the 34 subjects with apathy at baseline, 14 subjects were no longer apathetic at follow-up. Twenty subjects had persistent apathy, with a low baseline Symbol Digits Modalities Test as the only predictor. These results showed that apathy in HD is most closely linked to global and executive cognitive performance.
Department of Psychiatry, Leiden University Medical Center, The Netherlands. w.reedeker@lumc.nl
Nanda
N
Reedeker
Joseph A
JA
Bouwens
Erik
E
van Duijn
Erik J
EJ
Giltay
Raymund A C
RA
Roos
Roos C
RC
van der Mast
D000328:Adult; D057565:Apathy; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006816:Huntington Disease / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000503:physiopathology; D015994:Incidence; D016015:Logistic Models; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012720:Severity of Illness Index