Comparisons Between HD And Alzheimer

The table below compares some of the problems of people affected by HD with those of people affected by Alzheimer disease.

It is very important to discriminate the ability to learn from the ability to remember. Typically, persons with “true” memory problems have difficulty with the latter – remembering. For instance, persons with Alzheimer disease have severe problems remembering information that was once learned.

The comparison is not made to note the similarities between HD and Alzheimer disease, both commonly referred to as “dementia.” Rather, the table points out the numerous differences between these two disorders. From everything we know about Huntington’s Disease, it does not involve a primary memory deficit, and, consequently, it is not useful to refer to HD as dementia.

ABILITY	HUNTINGTON’S DISEASE	ALZHEIMER’S DISEASE
Speed of processing	Slow, but relatively accurate	Slow, often inaccurate
Speech output	Slurred and slow but accurate	Normal in clarity and rate; often the incorrect word
Learning new information	Disorganized and slow but can learn	Rapid forgetting, defective storage of information
Free recall of memory	Impaired: cannot find the right word; can recognize with choices, benefits from cues	Impaired: memory store is defective; cannot recognize, cues don’t help
Motor memory	Impaired: cannot learn or recall motor memories	Intact: can learn and retain motor memories