10: Predictive genetic testing for Huntington's Disease

Predictive genetic testing for Huntington’s Disease ($5,000)

A research project focussing on people at risk of Huntington’s Disease was funded by the Clifford Craig Trust and made available to doctoral student Sandy Taylor, who was based at the Launceston General Hospital and had been working with Huntington’s Disease affected families since 1988. In Tasmania the incidence is the fifth highest in the world at 12.1 per 100,000 persons.

Huntington’s Disease is an inherited disease in which degeneration in the brain causes a disorder of movement and emotional and intellectual impairments. Sandy’s project examined the attitudes of at-risk Tasmanian men and women to predictive genetic testing. Findings from the study have obvious implications for service delivery for at risk Tasmanians.