WeAreHD.org - The Social Support Network for People Living with Huntington's Disease

Facts about HD

Huntington's Disease (HD) is a brain disorder that affects a person's ability to think, talk, and move. I have tried to compile various facts about HD in this article -

1. The disease was named for Dr. George Huntington, who first described it in 1872.

2.  It originally was called "Huntington's Chorea". Chorea means dance.Many individuals with HD have dance-like uncontrolled jerky movements of their bodies.

3. In the United States, about 1 in every 30,000 people has Huntington's disease.

4. The disease destroys cells in the basal ganglia, the part of the brain that controls movement, emotion, and cognitive ability.

5. HD is caused by a mutation in a gene on chromosome 4. The coding region of this gene contains the DNA sequence "CAG" repeated again and again. The number of times this triplet is repeated varies from person to person, ranging from 10 to 26 times. People with HD have an abnormally high number of these CAG triplets, approximately 40 or more.

6.Huntington's disease is inherited in an autosomal dominant pattern. This means that everyone who inherits the faulty gene will eventually get the disease. A parent with a mutation in the HD gene has a 50 percent chance of passing on the disease to their children.

7. Signs and symptoms can develop at any time, but usually begin between the ages of 35 and 50.

8. Treatments do not slow the progression of the disease, but they can help make the patient more comfortable.