Mortality rate of Huntington disease in Japan: Secular trends, marital status, and geographical variations

Abstract

The death rate from Huntington disease (HD) in Japan was analyzed using Japanese vital statistics for 1969-1985. There was no significant change in the HD death rate over the years. The overall death rate per million population was 0.15 for both sexes. As for marital status, a quarter of the HD deaths was the single group for both sexes. There were remarkable differences in the HD death rates for each sex among the four marital categories. The geographical variations in the HD death rate were observed with the highest death rate in Tokushima prefecture (1.03). The excess of observed than expected numbers of HD deaths was obtained in the occupational category VI (other) of the head of household. The mean age at death in HD was nearly constant during the period, and overall mean age at death was 48 years for both sexes, which value was eight years shorter than that in South Wales. © 1989 The Japan Society of Human Genetics.