Does having been diagnosed with Huntingtons disease at conception bring a higher risk to children?
On One Hand: Chances of InheritanceHuntington’s disease is an inherited disorder caused by a gene mutation. If either parent has the mutation, the chance that their offspring will inherit the condition is 50 percent. This is true regardless of the age of the parent at onset or the circumstances under which the initial symptoms occur.On the Other: Circumstances of InheritanceStudies have targeted the correlation between the age of a parent at the onset of her symptoms and the future age at which her children will experience the onset of the disease. A study published in the American Journal of Human Genetics in May 1985 indicated that children who inherit the disorder from their mothers have significantly later onsets compared to those of their parents than do affected offspring inheriting the disease from their fathers.Bottom LineExperiencing the onset of Huntington’s disease around the time of conception does not increase the risk that your child will inherit the disease. If your chil
