Neuropsychological testing of Huntington's patients. Clues to progression.

A battery of neuropsychological and academic tests was administered to 16 patients with Huntington's chorea, several of whom received multiple testings. Generalized mental impairment was evident for most of the present sample of patients, but performance IQ was more affected than verbal IQ. Comparisons of impairments on the different tasks relative to expectations for normal adults suggest that measures requiring psychomotor problem solving, sequencing, and memory were most impaired. Sensory, fine motor, and visual motor tasks, however, also revealed relatively severe deficits. Elementary language and academic skills showed least impairment. Follow-up data were congruent with these trends. Results are consistent with other findings in the suggestion they offer for commonalities in the progression of mental impairment associated with this disease. The scarcity of severe impairment in elementary language and academic functions also supports the view that focal deficits are uncharacteristic of Huntington's dementia.