title: Poor insight into memory impairment in patients with Huntington disease.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Patients suffering from Huntington disease (HD) have been shown to present with poor self-awareness of a variety of symptoms. The study aimed to assess the self-awareness of memory impairment in HD in comparison to advanced Parkinson disease (PD), mild PD and cervical dystonia.
  
  
  METHODS
  Self-awareness was tested in 23 patients with HD by comparing patient and caregiver ratings in reference to clinical control groups (25 patients with advanced PD, 21 with mild PD and 20 with cervical dystonia). Self-awareness was tested using the Self Rating Scale of Memory Functions, which was administered to both the patients and the caregivers. Neuropsychological assessment addressed general cognitive status (Mini-Mental State Examination), verbal learning (Auditory Verbal Learning Test, 15-word list) and mood (Montgomery-Asberg Depression Rating Scale).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Patients with HD significantly underestimated their memory dysfunction. Underestimation of memory deficit correlated with disease duration and disease severity in HD.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Huntington disease patients underestimate memory dysfunction. These results add to the previous reports on poor insight in HD in other domains and suggest that anosognosia in HD, albeit usually rather mild, may be a generalized phenomenon.
authors.affiliation: Gdański Uniwersytet Medyczny, Gdańsk, Poland. emsitek@gmail.com
authors.forename: Emilia J
authors.initials: EJ
authors.lastname: Sitek
authors.forename: Witold
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Sołtan
authors.forename: Piotr
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Robowski
authors.forename: Michał
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Schinwelski
authors.forename: Dariusz
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Wieczorek
authors.forename: Jarosław
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Sławek
mesh_terms: D000203:Activities of Daily Living; D000328:Adult; D017028:Caregivers; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000209:etiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006816:Huntington Disease / Q000150:complications* / Q000523:psychology; D008297:Male; D008569:Memory Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000209:etiology; D008875:Middle Aged; D010300:Parkinson Disease / Q000150:complications* / Q000523:psychology; D012647:Self-Assessment; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D014103:Torticollis / Q000150:complications* / Q000523:psychology