The use of the Actiwatch-Neurologica® system to objectively assess the involuntary movements and sleep-wake activity in patients with mild-moderate Huntington's disease

Huntington's disease (HD) is a neurodegenerative disorder characterised by cognitive, psychiatric and motor abnormalities including a range of involuntary movements. Currently, assessment of these movements involves the use of subjective rating scales such as the Unified Huntington's Disease Rating Scales (UHDRS) for bradykinesia and maximal dystonia and chorea, without any objective measures. As new therapies emerge, it is critical that an objective means of evaluating these abnormal movements is developed and we have investigated the use of a wrist-worn activity monitor, the Actiwatch-Neurologica®, to determine whether these movements can be measured. In addition, this activity monitor and subjective reports were used to objectively measure the degree of sleep disruption in these same HD patients. Eight patients with mild-moderate HD and 8 age- and sex-matched control subjects wore the monitor for a period of 48 hours and recorded in a diary whether they were asleep or awake for each hour over the 2-day period. Assessment of various movement parameters revealed that HD patients exhibited significantly greater total and maximum activity levels and spent longer performing high acceleration movements while they were awake compared with controls. During sleep, patients not only showed significantly more activity and spent more time making high acceleration movements, but they also made significantly more movements than control subjects. These results demonstrate that the Actiwatch-Neurologica® activity monitor can be used to objectively assess movements in HD patients during periods of high activity as well as during sleep.