Prevalence of Huntington's disease in Southern Sardinia, Italy

Background: The frequency of Huntington's disease (HD) may vary considerably, with higher estimates in non Asian populations. In Italy, two recent studies performed in Ferrara county and Molise provided different prevalence estimates, varying from 4.2 7 105 to 10.8 7 105. Here we present a study performed in the Southern part of Sardinia, a large Italian mediterranean island that is considered a genetic isolate. Methods: The study area included the two neighbouring counties of South Sardinia and Cagliari with 353,830 and 431,955 inhabitants respectively on December 31st, 2017 (prevalence date). Case-patients were ascertained through multiple sources in Sardinia and Italy. Results: We identified 54 individuals with HD, of whom 47 were alive on prevalence date. The resulting prevalence rate was 5.98 7 105 in the overall study area, however with marked variations between South Sardinia and Cagliari (9.6 7 105 vs. 3.0 7 105, p = 0.02). In the two study areas, we found similar CAG repeat length in normal alleles (17.5 \ub1 2.1 vs. 17.7 \ub1 2.2, p = 0.5). Conclusions: The overall prevalence of HD in Sardinia is close to the correspondent estimates in Europeans. Our findings also highlighted the possibility of local microgeographic variations in the epidemiology of HD

The Italian Dystonia Registry: rationale, design and preliminary findings

The Italian Dystonia Registry is a multicenter data collection system that will prospectively assess the phenomenology and natural history of adult-onset dystonia and will serve as a basis for future etiological, pathophysiological and therapeutic studies. In the first 6 months of activity, 20 movement disorders Italian centres have adhered to the registry and 664 patients have been recruited. Baseline historical information from this cohort provides the first general overview of adult-onset dystonia in Italy. The cohort was characterized by a lower education level than the Italian population, and most patients were employed as artisans, builders, farmers, or unskilled workers. The clinical features of our sample confirmed the peculiar characteristics of adult-onset dystonia, i.e. gender preference, peak age at onset in the sixth decade, predominance of cervical dystonia and blepharospasm over the other focal dystonias, and a tendency to spread to adjacent body parts, The sample also confirmed the association between eye symptoms and blepharospasm, whereas no clear association emerged between extracranial injury and dystonia in a body site. Adult-onset dystonia patients and the Italian population shared similar burden of arterial hypertension, type 2 diabetes, coronary heart disease, dyslipidemia, and hypothyroidism, while hyperthyroidism was more frequent in the dystonia population. Geographic stratification of the study population yielded no major difference in the most clinical and phenomenological features of dystonia. Analysis of baseline information from recruited patients indicates that the Italian Dystonia Registry may be a useful tool to capture the real world clinical practice of physicians that visit dystonia patients

Validation of the Italian version of the Movement Disorder Society--Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale.

The Movement Disorder Society-sponsored revision of the Unified Parkinson\u2019s Disease Rating Scale (MDS-UPDRS) has been available in English since 2008. As part of this process, the MDS-UPDRS organizing team developed guidelines for development of official non-English translations. We present here the formal process for completing officially approved non-English versions of the MDS-UPDRS and specifically focus on the first of these versions in Italian. The MDS-UPDRS was translated into Italian and tested in 377 native-Italian speaking PD patients. Confirmatory and exploratory factor analyses determined whether the factor structure for the English-language MDS-UPDRS could be confirmed in data collected using the Italian translation. To be designated an \u2018Official MDS translation,\u2019 the Comparative Fit Index (CFI) had to be 650.90 relative to the English-language version. For all four parts of the Italian MDS-UPDRS, the CFI, in comparison with the English-language data, was 650.94. Exploratory factor analyses revealed some differences between the two datasets, however these differences were considered to be within an acceptable range. The Italian version of the MDS-UPDRS reaches the criterion to be designated as an Official Translation and is now available for use. This protocol will serve as outline for further validation of this in multiple languages