Poster 10: Degree of Disability Is Predictive of Physical But Not Mental Health Quality of Life in Huntington's Disease

Objective To determine whether self-reported measures of disability are predictive of health-related quality of life (QoL) in Huntington's disease (HD). Background The disability paradox is a term coined to describe patients who report high quality of life despite chronic disability. Patients' objective health status and presence of disability may not correlate with their perception of health-related quality of life. This disability paradox has not been examined in patients with HD. Methods HD patients ( n = 25) completed self-reported measures of disability (the Older Americans Resource and Services ADL/IADL Scale, or OARS) and health-related QoL (SF-12 Health Status Survey, Physical and Mental Health Summary Scores). Clinician ratings of disease severity were collected using a five-point Likert scale. Pearson's correlations were used to analyze the relationship between level of disability, health-related QoL, and disease severity. Results Greater disability was associated with lesser physical health QoL (OARS Total r = 0.57, p r = 0.53, p r = 0.58, p r = 0.87, p r = 0.44, p r = 0.41, p = 0.053; r = 0.38, p = 0.075). Greater disease severity correlated with physical health QoL ( r = 0.50, p r = 0.33, p = 0.17). Conclusions The degree of self-reported disability in HD correlates with self-reported physical health QoL and clinician-rated disease severity but not with self-reported mental health QoL. This example of the disability paradox reinforces the need to evaluate and treat both physical and mental symptoms of HD, as each may contribute independently to quality of life.