Varenicline improves motor and cognitive symptoms in early Huntington’s disease

The aim of this study was to describe the effects of varenicline, a smoking cessation aid that acts as a nicotinic agonist, on cognitive function in patients with early clinical Huntington’s disease (HD) who were current smokers. Three gene-positive patients transitioning to symptomatic HD were eval...

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Autores principales: McGregor, Ailsa L, Dysart, Jo, Tingle, Malcolm D, Russell, Bruce R, Kydd, Rob R, Finucane, Gregory
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Dove Medical Press 2016
Materias:
Case Series
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5034909/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27695336
http://dx.doi.org/10.2147/NDT.S111083
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author McGregor, Ailsa L
Dysart, Jo
Tingle, Malcolm D
Russell, Bruce R
Kydd, Rob R
Finucane, Gregory
author_facet McGregor, Ailsa L
Dysart, Jo
Tingle, Malcolm D
Russell, Bruce R
Kydd, Rob R
Finucane, Gregory
author_sort McGregor, Ailsa L
collection PubMed
description The aim of this study was to describe the effects of varenicline, a smoking cessation aid that acts as a nicotinic agonist, on cognitive function in patients with early clinical Huntington’s disease (HD) who were current smokers. Three gene-positive patients transitioning to symptomatic HD were evaluated using the Unified Huntington’s Disease Rating Scale part I and III (motor and behavioral subscales) at baseline and after 4 weeks of treatment. Cognitive function was assessed using a touch screen computer-based neurocognitive test battery (IntegNeuro(®)). Varenicline (1 mg twice daily) significantly improved performance in executive function and emotional recognition tasks. Our case reports describe no clinically significant adverse effects and suggest that varenicline improves aspects of cognitive function in patients with early HD. A randomized controlled study is now underway.
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spelling pubmed-50349092016-09-30 Varenicline improves motor and cognitive symptoms in early Huntington’s disease McGregor, Ailsa L Dysart, Jo Tingle, Malcolm D Russell, Bruce R Kydd, Rob R Finucane, Gregory Neuropsychiatr Dis Treat Case Series The aim of this study was to describe the effects of varenicline, a smoking cessation aid that acts as a nicotinic agonist, on cognitive function in patients with early clinical Huntington’s disease (HD) who were current smokers. Three gene-positive patients transitioning to symptomatic HD were evaluated using the Unified Huntington’s Disease Rating Scale part I and III (motor and behavioral subscales) at baseline and after 4 weeks of treatment. Cognitive function was assessed using a touch screen computer-based neurocognitive test battery (IntegNeuro(®)). Varenicline (1 mg twice daily) significantly improved performance in executive function and emotional recognition tasks. Our case reports describe no clinically significant adverse effects and suggest that varenicline improves aspects of cognitive function in patients with early HD. A randomized controlled study is now underway. Dove Medical Press 2016-09-19 /pmc/articles/PMC5034909/ /pubmed/27695336 http://dx.doi.org/10.2147/NDT.S111083 Text en © 2016 McGregor et al. This work is published and licensed by Dove Medical Press Limited The full terms of this license are available at https://www.dovepress.com/terms.php and incorporate the Creative Commons Attribution – Non Commercial (unported, v3.0) License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/). By accessing the work you hereby accept the Terms. Non-commercial uses of the work are permitted without any further permission from Dove Medical Press Limited, provided the work is properly attributed.
spellingShingle Case Series
McGregor, Ailsa L
Dysart, Jo
Tingle, Malcolm D
Russell, Bruce R
Kydd, Rob R
Finucane, Gregory
Varenicline improves motor and cognitive symptoms in early Huntington’s disease
title Varenicline improves motor and cognitive symptoms in early Huntington’s disease
title_full Varenicline improves motor and cognitive symptoms in early Huntington’s disease
title_fullStr Varenicline improves motor and cognitive symptoms in early Huntington’s disease
title_full_unstemmed Varenicline improves motor and cognitive symptoms in early Huntington’s disease
title_short Varenicline improves motor and cognitive symptoms in early Huntington’s disease
title_sort varenicline improves motor and cognitive symptoms in early huntington’s disease
topic Case Series
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5034909/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27695336
http://dx.doi.org/10.2147/NDT.S111083
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