INTRODUCTION: Huntington's disease (HD) is considered a rare and fatal neurodegenerative disease
despite that, only one study described the outcomes among those with HD and COVID-19. In this context, an epidemiological investigation was conducted in Brazil using the data from OpenDataSUS (https://opendatasus.saude.gov.br/), a Brazilian open dataset encompassing demographic and clinical information of hospitalized patients. METHOD: The study comprised 2,180,403 hospitalized patients due to COVID-19 in Brazil from December 29th, 2019, to April 6th, 2023. From the totality of the original data, patients with HD and three control populations [Control 1 (CG-1) - hospitalized patients with COVID-19 and a neurological disorder (except those with HD), Control 2 (CG-2) - hospitalized patients with COVID-19 and without comorbidities, and Control 3 (CG-3) - hospitalized patients with COVID-19 except for those with HD] were selected. The study described the following characteristics of these patients: sex, age, race, place of residence, presence of nosocomial infection, clinical signs, comorbidities, use of antiviral for Flu, need for intensive care unit, need for mechanical ventilation support, discharge criteria, and outcome. RESULTS: A total of 60 patients with HD were enrolled representing a prevalence of 2.8 per 100,000 inhabitants. Of these, 23 were men, 30 were aged between 25 and 60 years, 38 were White people, 58 lived in an urban area, and two presented with nosocomial infection. The main clinical signs presented were fever (45), dyspnea (45), peripheral oxygen saturation <
95% (45), cough (38), and respiratory discomfort (37). The main comorbidities were cardiomyopathy (13), asthma (2), and chronic lung disease (2). Four patients received the antiviral for the Flu. During the hospitalization, 18 patients required admission to an intensive care unit, 10 used invasive mechanical ventilation, 42 used non-invasive mechanical ventilation, and eight did not use ventilatory support. Regarding outcomes, 36 patients were cured, 23 died due to COVID-19, and one died, and the cause of death was not associated with the COVID-19. In the comparison of markers between patients with HD and the controls, the following significant associations were described: (CG-1) patients with HD were younger, and presented fewer clinical signs and comorbidities
(CG-2) patients with HD were commonly female, were older, presented fewer clinical signs and a higher chance of death [OR = 2.354 (95%CI = 1.395 to 3.973)]
and (CG-3) patients with HD were commonly female, and presented fewer clinical signs and comorbidities. CONCLUSIONS: Patients with HD can only be considered an at-risk population due to the poor clinical outcomes when compared to patients without comorbidities. Even then, this group of patients presented fewer clinical signs and comorbidities.