Hypertension linked with earlier age of onset of Huntington’s disease

Hypertension may be associated with a diagnosis of Huntington’s disease at an earlier age, according to a new study which took into account the idea the prevalence of hypertension increases with age.

Of the 3020 premanifest participants with Enroll‐HD with cytosine‐adenine‐guanine ≥36, baseline diagnostic confidence level < 4, baseline total functional capacity score >11, and baseline motor score <21, 293 participants had hypertension. Hypertension was changed into a time‐dependent variable, then a Cox proportional hazard survival model was used to determine if having hypertension affected the time to motor conversion.

Participants with hypertension had an increased annualized hazard of motor conversion compared to normotensive participants with Huntington’s disease.

The authors concluded that “A previous study reported a protective effect of hypertension in Huntington’s disease, but did not account for the fact that the prevalence of hypertension increases with age. By controlling for this confounder, we more accurately outline the association between the age of diagnosis of Huntington’s disease to demonstrate that a diagnosis of hypertension may be associated with an earlier age of diagnosis of Huntington’s disease.

Reference
Schultz JL, Harshman LA, Langbehn DR, et al. Hypertension is associated with an earlier age of onset of Huntington’s disease. Mov Disord. 2020;35(9):1558-1564.