School of Science, Edith Cowan University, Joondalup, Western Australia, Australia.
Facultad de Ciencias de la Rehabilitacion, Universidad Andres Bello, Viña del Mar, Chile.
Ann Clin Transl Neurol. 2020 Sep;7(9):1608-1619. doi: 10.1002/acn3.51142. Epub 2020 Aug 14.
Recent findings suggest that individuals with Huntington's disease (HD) have an impaired capacity to execute cognitive and motor tasks simultaneously, or dual task, which gradually worsens as the disease advances. The onset and neuropathological changes mediating impairments in dual tasking in individuals with HD are unclear. The reliability of dual tasking assessments for individuals with HD is also unclear.
To evaluate differences in dual tasking performance between individuals with HD (presymptomatic and prodromal) and matched controls, to investigate associations between striatal volume and dual tasking performance, and to determine the reliability of dual tasking assessments.
Twenty individuals with HD (10 presymptomatic and 10 prodromal) and 20 healthy controls were recruited for the study. Individuals undertook four single and dual task assessments, comprising motor (postural stability or force steadiness) and cognitive (simple or complex mental arithmetic) components, with single and dual tasks performed three times each. Participants also undertook a magnetic resonance imaging assessment.
Compared to healthy controls, individuals with presymptomatic and prodromal HD displayed significant deficits in dual tasking, particularly cognitive task performance when concurrently undertaking motor tasks (P < 0.05). The observed deficits in dual tasking were associated with reduced volume in caudate and putamen structures (P < 0.05),however, not with clinical measures of disease burden. An analysis of the reliability of dual tasking assessments revealed moderate to high test-retest reliability [ICC: 0.61-0.99] for individuals with presymptomatic and prodromal HD and healthy controls.
Individuals with presymptomatic and prodromal HD have significant deficits in dual tasking that are associated with striatal degeneration. Findings also indicate that dual tasking assessments are reliable in individuals presymptomatic and prodromal HD and healthy controls.
最近的研究结果表明，亨廷顿病（HD）患者同时执行认知和运动任务（双重任务）的能力受损，随着疾病的进展，这种能力逐渐恶化。HD 患者双重任务受损的发病机制和神经病理学变化尚不清楚。双重任务评估在 HD 患者中的可靠性也不清楚。
评估 HD（无症状前和前驱期）患者与匹配对照组之间在双重任务表现上的差异，研究纹状体体积与双重任务表现之间的关系，并确定双重任务评估的可靠性。
本研究招募了 20 名 HD 患者（10 名无症状前和 10 名前驱期）和 20 名健康对照者。参与者进行了四项单任务和双重任务评估，包括运动（姿势稳定性或力量稳定性）和认知（简单或复杂心算）成分，每个任务各进行三次。参与者还进行了磁共振成像评估。
与健康对照组相比，无症状前和前驱期 HD 患者在双重任务中表现出明显的缺陷，尤其是在同时进行运动任务时认知任务的表现（P<0.05）。观察到的双重任务缺陷与尾状核和壳核结构体积减少有关（P<0.05），但与疾病负担的临床测量无关。对双重任务评估可靠性的分析显示，无症状前和前驱期 HD 患者和健康对照组的测试-重测信度为中度至高度[ICC：0.61-0.99]。
无症状前和前驱期 HD 患者在双重任务中存在明显缺陷，与纹状体退化有关。研究结果还表明，双重任务评估在无症状前和前驱期 HD 患者和健康对照组中是可靠的。
