Research Institutions
Part 4

Recent HD Research: Where the Action Is

IV. Psychological Studies

Columbia Health Science HDSA Center for Excellence at the New York State Psychiatric Institute

• Found that HD patients’ grasping abilities decrease more and more over time.
• Studied a group of HD patients and found that over half of them had symptoms of obsessive-compulsive disorder.
• Currently exploring the safety of creatine for the treatment of HD.

Indiana University School of Medicine

• Recruited patients with a family history of HD and found that the ones who eventually developed the disease became more irritable and hostile before any other signs of HD appeared.

Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine

• Most HD patients also suffer from depression, impaired thinking, personality changes, and other disorders that can be treated with medication.

University of Connecticut Medical School

• Found that when HD patients are asked to do a cognitive task (like solving a word puzzle, for instance), less blood flows through their brains than through the brains of people who don’t have the disease.

University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine

• Found that HD patients are less able to identify odors than people who do not have HD.

Last Modified: 5-09-03

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