HUNTINGTONS-DISEASE IN CHINESE - A HYPOTHESIS OF ITS ORIGIN

The period prevalence (1984-91) of Huntington's disease (HD) in Hong Kong Chinese was 3.7 per million population. HD patients in Mainland China and Hong Kong showed similar hereditary pattern, clinical and pathological features as in the West. Chinese HD patients were male predominant with a younger age of onset and death. Their ancestral origin could be traced mostly to the coastal provinces of China. It is proposed that Chinese HD patients may have a European origin and share the same gene pool as their white counterparts.