The estimated carrier prevalence is 1:100. A 1990–1996 study of Europeans calculated the incidence rate was 2.8:100,000. The prevalence rate of FRDA in Japan is 1:1,000,000.FRDA follows the same pattern as haplogroup R1b. Haplogroup R1b is the most frequently occurring paternal lineage in Western Europe. FRDA and Haplogroup R1b are more common in northern Spain, Ireland, and France, rare in Russia and Scandinavia, and follow a gradient through central and eastern Europe. A population carrying the disease went through a population bottleneck in the Franco-Cantabrian region during the last ice age. History
The condition is named after the 1860s German pathologist and neurologist, Nikolaus Friedreich. Friedreich reported the disease in 1863 at the University of Heidelberg. Further observations appeared in a paper in 1876.Frantz Fanon wrote his medical thesis on FRDA, in 1951.A 1984 Canadian study traced 40 cases to one common ancestral couple arriving in New France in 1634.FRDA was first linked to a GAA repeat expansion on chromosome 9 in 1996. Research
Active research is ongoing to find a treatment. Patients can enroll in a registry to make clinical trial recruiting easier. The Friedreichs Ataxia Global Patient Registry is the only worldwide registry of Friedreichs ataxia patients to characterize the symptoms and establish the rate of disease progression. The Friedreichs Ataxia App is the only global community app which enables novel forms of research.As of May 2021, research continues along the following paths. Improve mitochondrial function and reduce oxidative stress
Reata Pharmaceuticals developed RTA 408 (Omaveloxolone or Omav) to target activation of a transcriptional factor, Nrf2.
Lentivirus-mediated delivery of the FXN gene has been shown to increase frataxin expression and prevent DNA damage in human and mouse fibroblasts. CRISPR Therapeutics received a grant from the Friedreichs Ataxia Research Alliance to investigate gene editing as a potential treatment for the disease in 2017. Society and culture
The Cake Eaters is a 2007 independent drama film that stars Kristen Stewart as a young woman with FRDA.The Ataxian is a documentary that tells the story of Kyle Bryant, an athlete with FRDA who completes a long-distance bike race in an adaptive "trike" to raise money for research.Dynah Haubert spoke at the 2016 Democratic National Convention about supporting Americans with disabilities.Geraint Williams in an athlete affected by FRDA who is known for scaling Mount Kilimanjaro in an adaptive wheelchair.Shobhika Kalra is an activist with FRDA who helped build over 1000 wheelchair ramps across the United Arab Emirates in 2018 to try to  make Dubai fully wheelchair-friendly by 2020. References
External links
Friedreichs Ataxia Global Patient Registry
NIHs FRDA information page