Katherine Osborne-Crowley1, Sophie C Andrews2, Izelle Labuschagne3, Akshay Nair1, Rachael Scahill1, David Craufurd4, Sarah J Tabrizi1, Julie C Stout2. 1. 1Huntington's Disease Centre,University College London,Institute of Neurology, and National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery,London,United Kingdom. 2. 2Monash Institute of Cognitive and Clinical Neurosciences,School of Psychological Sciences,Monash University,Melbourne,Australia. 3. 3Cognition and Emotion Research Centre,School of Psychology,Australian Catholic University,Melbourne,Australia. 4. 4Manchester Centre for Genomic Medicine,Division of Evolution and Genomic Sciences,School of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Biology,Medicine and Health,University of Manchester,Manchester Academic Health Science Centre,Manchester,United Kingdom.
Abstract
OBJECTIVES: Previous research has demonstrated an association between emotion recognition and apathy in several neurological conditions involving fronto-striatal pathology, including Parkinson's disease and brain injury. In line with these findings, we aimed to determine whether apathetic participants with early Huntington's disease (HD) were more impaired on an emotion recognition task compared to non-apathetic participants and healthy controls. METHODS: We included 43 participants from the TRACK-HD study who reported apathy on the Problem Behaviours Assessment - short version (PBA-S), 67 participants who reported no apathy, and 107 controls matched for age, sex, and level of education. During their baseline TRACK-HD visit, participants completed a battery of cognitive and psychological tests including an emotion recognition task, the Hospital Depression and Anxiety Scale (HADS) and were assessed on the PBA-S. RESULTS: Compared to the non-apathetic group and the control group, the apathetic group were impaired on the recognition of happy facial expressions, after controlling for depression symptomology on the HADS and general disease progression (Unified Huntington's Disease Rating Scale total motor score). This was despite no difference between the apathetic and non-apathetic group on overall cognitive functioning assessed by a cognitive composite score. CONCLUSIONS: Impairment of the recognition of happy expressions may be part of the clinical picture of apathy in HD. While shared reliance on frontostriatal pathways may broadly explain associations between emotion recognition and apathy found across several patient groups, further work is needed to determine what relationships exist between recognition of specific emotions, distinct subtypes of apathy and underlying neuropathology. (JINS, 2019, 25, 453-461).
OBJECTIVES: Previous research has demonstrated an association between emotion recognition and apathy in several neurological conditions involving fronto-striatal pathology, including Parkinson's disease and brain injury. In line with these findings, we aimed to determine whether apathetic participants with early Huntington's disease (HD) were more impaired on an emotion recognition task compared to non-apathetic participants and healthy controls. METHODS: We included 43 participants from the TRACK-HD study who reported apathy on the Problem Behaviours Assessment - short version (PBA-S), 67 participants who reported no apathy, and 107 controls matched for age, sex, and level of education. During their baseline TRACK-HD visit, participants completed a battery of cognitive and psychological tests including an emotion recognition task, the Hospital Depression and Anxiety Scale (HADS) and were assessed on the PBA-S. RESULTS: Compared to the non-apathetic group and the control group, the apathetic group were impaired on the recognition of happy facial expressions, after controlling for depression symptomology on the HADS and general disease progression (Unified Huntington's Disease Rating Scale total motor score). This was despite no difference between the apathetic and non-apathetic group on overall cognitive functioning assessed by a cognitive composite score. CONCLUSIONS: Impairment of the recognition of happy expressions may be part of the clinical picture of apathy in HD. While shared reliance on frontostriatal pathways may broadly explain associations between emotion recognition and apathy found across several patient groups, further work is needed to determine what relationships exist between recognition of specific emotions, distinct subtypes of apathy and underlying neuropathology. (JINS, 2019, 25, 453-461).
Entities:
Keywords:
Apathy; Cognition; Cognition disorders; Emotion; Huntington’s disease; Social behavior
Authors: D Aarsland; J P Larsen; N G Lim; C Janvin; K Karlsen; E Tandberg; J L Cummings Journal: J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry Date: 1999-10 Impact factor: 10.154