A new measure for end of life planning, preparation, and preferences in Huntington disease: HDQLIFE end of life planning.

BACKGROUND: Huntington disease is a fatal inherited neurodegenerative disease. Because the end result of Huntington disease is death due to Huntington disease-related causes, there is a need for better understanding and caring for individuals at their end of life. AIM: The purpose of this study was to develop a new measure to evaluate end of life planning. DESIGN: We conducted qualitative focus groups, solicited expert input, and completed a literature review to develop a 16-item measure to evaluate important aspects of end of life planning for Huntington disease. Item response theory and differential item functioning analyses were utilized to examine the psychometric properties of items; exploratory factor analysis was used to establish meaningful subscales. PARTICIPANTS: Participants included 508 individuals with pre-manifest or manifest Huntington disease. RESULTS: Item response theory supported the retention of all 16 items on the huntington disease quality of life ("HDQLIFE") end of life planning measure. Exploratory factor analysis supported a four-factor structure: legal planning, financial planning, preferences for hospice care, and preferences for conditions (locations, surroundings, etc.) at the time of death. Although a handful of items exhibited some evidence of differential item functioning, these items were retained due to their relevant clinical content. The final 16-item scale includes an overall total score and four subscale scores that reflect the different end of life planning constructs. CONCLUSIONS: The 16-item HDQLIFE end of life planning measure demonstrates adequate psychometric properties; it may be a useful tool for clinicians to clarify patients' preferences about end of life care.

HDQLIFE: development and assessment of health-related quality of life in Huntington disease (HD).

PURPOSE: Huntington disease (HD) is a chronic, debilitating genetic disease that affects physical, emotional, cognitive, and social health. Existing patient-reported outcomes (PROs) of health-related quality of life (HRQOL) used in HD are neither comprehensive, nor do they adequately account for clinically meaningful changes in function. While new PROs examining HRQOL (i.e., Neuro-QoL-Quality of Life in Neurological Disorders and PROMIS-Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System) offer solutions to many of these shortcomings, they do not include HD-specific content, nor have they been validated in HD. HDQLIFE addresses this by validating 12 PROMIS/Neuro-QoL domains in individuals with HD and by using established PROMIS methodology to develop new, HD-specific content. METHODS: New item pools were developed using cognitive debriefing with individuals with HD, and expert, literacy, and translatability reviews. Existing item banks and new item pools were field tested in 536 individuals with prodromal, early-, or late-stage HD. RESULTS: Moderate to strong relationships between Neuro-QoL/PROMIS measures and generic self-report measures of HRQOL, and moderate relationships between Neuro-QoL/PROMIS and clinician-rated measures of similar constructs supported the validity of Neuro-QoL/PROMIS in individuals with HD. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis, item response theory, and differential item functioning analyses were utilized to develop new item banks for Chorea, Speech Difficulties, Swallowing Difficulties, and Concern with Death and Dying, with corresponding six-item short forms. A four-item short form was developed for Meaning and Purpose. CONCLUSIONS: HDQLIFE encompasses both validated Neuro-QoL/PROMIS measures, as well as five new scales in order to provide a comprehensive assessment of HRQOL in HD.

New measures to capture end of life concerns in Huntington disease: Meaning and Purpose and Concern with Death and Dying from HDQLIFE (a patient-reported outcomes measurement system).

PURPOSE: Huntington disease (HD) is an incurable terminal disease. Thus, end of life (EOL) concerns are common in these individuals. A quantitative measure of EOL concerns in HD would enable a better understanding of how these concerns impact health-related quality of life. Therefore, we developed new measures of EOL for use in HD. METHODS: An EOL item pool of 45 items was field tested in 507 individuals with prodromal or manifest HD. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses (EFA and CFA, respectively) were conducted to establish unidimensional item pools. Item response theory (IRT) and differential item functioning analyses were applied to the identified unidimensional item pools to select the final items. RESULTS: EFA and CFA supported two separate unidimensional sets of items: Concern with Death and Dying (16 items), and Meaning and Purpose (14 items). IRT and DIF supported the retention of 12 Concern with Death and Dying items and 4 Meaning and Purpose items. IRT data supported the development of both a computer adaptive test (CAT) and a 6-item, static short form for Concern with Death and Dying. CONCLUSION: The HDQLIFE Concern with Death and Dying CAT and corresponding 6-item short form, and the 4-item calibrated HDQLIFE Meaning and Purpose scale demonstrate excellent psychometric properties. These new measures have the potential to provide clinically meaningful information about end-of-life preferences and concerns to clinicians and researchers working with individuals with HD. In addition, these measures may also be relevant and useful for other terminal conditions.

Short tandem repeat polymorphism linkage studies in a new family with X-linked mental retardation (MRX20).

A family with X-linked recessive mental retardation (XLMR) without other obvious manifestations (MRX20) was studied with 14 short tandem repeat polymorphism (STRP) markers. Two-point lod scores above 3 were obtained with DXS1003, DXYS1, DXS3, and DXS458. A multipoint lod score of 4.25 was obtained with peak at DXS1003. Recombination events identify a 55.6 cM interval between DXS1068 and DXS454, while a one unit support interval identifies 40 cM between MAOA and DXS458.

Prenatal exposure to heavy metals: effect on childhood cognitive skills and health status.

Prenatal exposure to seven heavy metals (cadmium, chromium, cobalt, lead, mercury, nickel, and silver) was determined for amniotic fluid taken from 92 pregnant women undergoing amniocentesis at approximately 16 to 18 weeks' gestation. Follow-up assessment of their children's cognitive skills and health status was conducted when the children were approximately 3 years of age. The presence of these metals co-occurred in amniotic fluid. A prenatal toxic risk score was derived which was a weighted score reflecting the presence of the various metals in amniotic fluid. The toxic risk score was negatively related to performance on the McCarthy Scales of Children's Abilities and positively related to the number of child illnesses reported. These results suggest the need for further prospective research on the adverse effects of prenatal exposure to various metals in combination.

Multiple chromosome aberrations in an infant with acute monoblastic leukemia.

A male infant was diagnosed at age 16 months with acute monoblastic leukemia. At diagnosis, studies of bone marrow revealed multiple chromosome aberrations: 48,XY,+8,+19,t(4;11). Chromosome studies have been repeated at remission and relapse over the course of his disease. To our knowledge, this combination of chromosome abnormalities has not been previously reported.

A psychometric study of children at-risk for Huntington disease.

Huntington disease (HD) is an autosomal dominant disorder of the central nervous system with an average age of onset between 35 and 45 years and symptoms progressing slowly over the next 10 to 20 years. Research in the past few years has focused on the hypothesis that a presymptomatic or prodromal phase for HD is detectable at least 10 years prior to chronic symptoms. This study attempts to identify possible signs of a prodromal phase for HD in children who are at primary (50%) and secondary (25%) risk for HD using a screening battery of psychometric tests. The children tested were between the ages of 5 1/2 and 15 years and the tests used were the WISC-R, the PPVT-R, and the VMI. Results from this study indicated performance on the WISC-R Digit Span and to a lesser extent Coding subtests might be useful in assessing a possible memory dysfunction in children at-risk for HD.

A genetic study of red cell osmotic fragility in Huntington's disease.

The erythrocyte osmotic fragility was evaluated on 19 unmedicated subjects with Huntington's disease and 42 individuals at 50% risk, 27 children at 25% risk, and a group of 60 hematologically normal control persons. Five older subjects at 50% risk for Huntington's disease as well as 6 Alzheimer's disease individuals were also evaluated for comparison. The osmotic fragility of fresh and 24-hour incubated red cells was analyzed and a fragility index calculated for each individual. The fragility index for the Huntington's disease group was statistically lower than that of the control group (P less than .001) suggesting that the Huntington's disease erythrocytes had a reduced osmotic fragility. In the 50% risk group, 45% of the subjects demonstrated decreased osmotic fragility and 55% had normal fragility. For those subjects in the 25% risk group, 22.2% had decreased fragility and 77.8% had normal fragility. Twenty-seven offspring were evaluated of the 14 persons at 50% risk for Huntington's disease with children; eight of the 14 individuals at 50% risk showed normal fragility and all 16 of their children showed fragility indices with the normal range. The remaining six persons at 50% risk for Huntington's disease had increased erythrocyte fragility and out of their 11 children, five showed normal fragility and six had decreased fragility. These data support the hypothesis of reduced erythrocyte osmotic fragility in individuals affected with and at risk for Huntington disease, and demonstrate the need of further study of the erythrocyte in this complex behavioral genetic disease.

Clinical teratology.

Of particular importance in teratogenesis is the time of exposure to the offending environmental agent, route of exposure, and genotype of the embryo and the mother. The major teratogens include irradiation, maternal infections, other illnesses in pregnancy (diabetes, thyroid disease, maternal phenylketonuria, virilizing diseases), a host of pharmacologic agents and environmental contaminants. Teratogen exposure carries the potential for cancer in later life. Several sources of information on teratogens are now available.

Improved visualization of fetal hemoglobin-containing cells using Nomarski Optics.

The quantitation of fetal hemoglobin-containing cells is generally accomplished by the acid elution of adult hemoglobin and subsequent identification of cells positively stained for fetal hemoglobin by light microscopy. Disadvantages with this technique include difficulty in recognition of intensity of stained cells. This study describes a modification of the acid elution technique using Nomarski Optics to facilitate recognition of fetal hemoglobin cells. Further, the results of the acid elution technique using Nomarski Optics significantly correlate with results from the standard alkali denaturation technique for quantitating fetal hemoglobin.

Attitudes regarding utilization of artificial insemination by donor in Huntington disease.

We report on a study of attitudes toward artificial insemination by donor (AID) of persons at risk for Huntington disease (HD). The subjects of the study were 91 at risk persons and 68 matched controls. Both groups were divided by sex and age (45 yr less than or equal to vs greater than or equal to 46 yr). Demographic data included age, occupation, marital status, religion, education, ethnic background, and family size. We recorded 1) attitudes toward reproduction, 2) nature of contact with affected family member(s), 3) effects of HD on family planning, 4) attitudes toward AID, and 5) concern about donor selection criteria. Results suggest that 1) men and women differ in several ways with regard to their views about AID, and 2) that more vigorous educational programs might increase utilization of AID for the prevention of not only HD, but other human genetic diseases as well.

Prenatal detection of the autosomal dominant type of congenital hydronephrosis by ultrasonography.

We report a family with clearly defined two generation, and probable four generation uropathy due to a congenital malformation of the genitourinary system. There appears to be variation in expression within this family and a severely affected fetus was detected by ultrasonography at 31 weeks gestation.

Altered red cell osmotic fragility in Huntington disease (HD).

We have studied in fresh and 24-hour incubated samples the osmotic fragility of erythrocytes from 13 individuals with Huntington disease (HD) and 22 at-risk, asymptomatic individuals. Five older at-risk, asymptomatic individuals and six Alzheimer disease individuals were also studied. Results suggest that osmotic fragility of red cells from HD individuals in significantly decreased in fresh (P less than 0.0001) and incubated (P less than 0.0001) samples. At-risk individuals appear to fall into two groups: 1) those with normal osmotic fragility (n =10), and 2) those with decreased osmotic fragility (n = 12). Fragility in older at-risk persons and those with Alzheimer disease were within normal limits. These data suggest that red cell osmotic fragility measurement may be useful to identify at-risk persons with an HD gene; however, longitudinal follow-up will be required to confirm the predictive power of this observation. These data suggest additional support for focusing on the erythrocyte in investigating the molecular pathogenesis of HD.

Screening for genetic traits and diseases.

Genetic screening should greatly improve the quality of life. A thorough family and medical history is the basis for identifying families at high risk for genetic traits and diseases. Recognition is enhanced by awareness of diseases associated with certain racial, ethnic or geographic groups. Effective genetic screening requires close collaboration between physicians, public health officers and medical investigators.