Complications of Huntington’s Disease Huntington’s Disease (HD)
is not fatal in itself. People with HD have a shorter life
expectancy and die of other life-threatening complications
related to this disease. Pneumonia and heart disease are the two
leading causes of death for people with HD. Additionally, HD
patients have higher incidence of choking and respiratory
complications, gastrointestinal diseases (such as cancer of the
pancreas), and suicide than the non-HD population. Why are HD
patients more prone to the above complications than the rest of
the population? This chapter aims to answer that question and
draw connections between the symptoms of HD and the most common
causes of death (see the table below). Although researchers have
not explicitly proven these links in every case, the following
information hopes to demonstrate a logical connection. |Primary
cause of death (in rank order)||Persons (total=182)||Percentage|
Other respiratory diseases |Myocardial infarction/degeneration
(heart attack Congesti