Profiling Social Cognition in Premanifest Huntington's Disease. (5th March 2022)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Turner, Kate; Bartlett, Danielle; Grainger, Sarah A.; Eddy, Clare; Reyes, Alvaro; Kordsachia, Catarina; Turner, Mitchell; Stout, Julie C.; Georgiou-Karistianis, Nellie; Henry, Julie D.; Ziman, Mel; Cruickshank, Travis
• Is Part Of: Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society. Volume 28:Number 3(2022)
• Page Start: 217
• Page End: 229
• Publication Date: 2022-03-05
• Subjects: Theory of mind -- Social perception -- Social behaviour -- Empathy -- Neurodegenerative disease -- Social cognitive dispersion; Neuropsychology -- Periodicals; 616.8
• DOI: 10.1017/S1355617721000357
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1355-6177

Abstract

Abstract: Objective: Discrepancies exist in reports of social cognition deficits in individuals with premanifest Huntington's disease (HD); however, the reason for this variability has not been investigated. The aims of this study were to (1) evaluate group- and individual-level social cognitive performance and (2) examine intra-individual variability (dispersion) across social cognitive domains in individuals with premanifest HD. Method: Theory of mind (ToM), social perception, empathy, and social connectedness were evaluated in 35 individuals with premanifest HD and 29 healthy controls. Cut-off values beneath the median and 1.5 × the interquartile range below the 25th percentile (P25 – 1.5 × IQR) of healthy controls for each variable were established for a profiling method. Dispersion between social cognitive domains was also calculated. Results: Compared to healthy controls, individuals with premanifest HD performed worse on all social cognitive domains except empathy. Application of the profiling method revealed a large proportion of people with premanifest HD fell below healthy control median values across ToM (>80%), social perception (>57%), empathy (>54%), and social behaviour (>40%), with a percentage of these individuals displaying more pronounced impairments in empathy (20%) and ToM (22%). Social cognition dispersion did not differ between groups. No significant correlations were found between social cognitive domains and mood, sleep, and neurocognitive outcomes. Conclusions: Significant group-level social cognition deficits were observed in the premanifest HD cohort. However, our profiling method showed that only a small percentage of these individuals experienced marked difficulties in social cognition, indicating the importance of individual-level assessments, particularly regarding future personalised treatments.