Session Information
Date: Monday, June 5, 2017
Session Title: Epidemiology
Session Time: 1:45pm-3:15pm
Location: Exhibit Hall C
Objective: To Assess frequencies of Huntington disease among different Israeli sub-populations
Background: Worldwide prevalence estimates of Huntington’s disease (HD) vary widely with no reliable information regarding the Jewish population in Israel.
Methods: This cross sectional study assessed clinical, cognitive and demographic characteristics of 120 HD patients who were treated at the Movement Disorder Unit of the Tel-Aviv Medical Center.
Results: Our cohort was comprised of one-third Ashkenazi Jews, 27% Jews from the Caucasus region, 18% Sephardic Jews and 21% Karaites. No between group differences were detected regarding number of CAG repeats, age of onset, disease duration, years from symptoms onset till diagnosis, gender, years of education, Unified Huntington’s Disease Rating Scale or the Montreal Cognitive Assessment scores.
Conclusions: We detected clustering of HD among distinct selective Jewish ethnic groups in Israel, with higher prevalence of the disease among Jews from the Caucasus region and Karaites, compared to the general Israeli population.
To cite this abstract in AMA style:
J. Zitser, A. Thaler, N. Inbar, S. Naor, N. Giladi, T. Gurevich. Two ethnic clusters with Huntington’s disease in Israel – The case of Mountain Jews and Karaites [abstract]. Mov Disord. 2017; 32 (suppl 2). https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/two-ethnic-clusters-with-huntingtons-disease-in-israel-the-case-of-mountain-jews-and-karaites/. Accessed June 14, 2025.« Back to 2017 International Congress
MDS Abstracts - https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/two-ethnic-clusters-with-huntingtons-disease-in-israel-the-case-of-mountain-jews-and-karaites/