VIDEO: Understanding risk factors of Huntington’s disease

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We know that Huntington's disease is an autosomal dominant disorder. So the children of people that are affected with HD or carry the gene for HD each have a 50% chance of getting the abnormal gene. So as of now, we don't have any disease modifying medications, for Huntington's, but there are a number of things that we know can contribute to brain health. So avoiding illicit substances, excessive alcohol, etc, can be very helpful. There's been some evidence to show that a healthy diet like a Mediterranean type diet can be helpful as well. We also know that there are comorbid mood disorders that can occur sometimes 10 or more years before the onset of motor symptoms, and controlling those as you would anyone else with depression. Anxiety, obsessive compulsive behaviors, can be very helpful for the person with ADHD and their family. So I'd encourage physicians to treat those as they would any other patient