The prevalence of Huntington’s disease in the UK has been massively underestimated and is more than double the current estimates, doctors have claimed.

UK studies carried out in the 1970s and 80s show an average prevalence of 6-7 cases per 100 000 of the population. But writing in the Lancet this week, Professor Sir Michael Rawlins, honorary professor of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and chairman of the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence, states: “The true prevalence of Huntington’s disease is unquestionably greater than that rate.” (Lancet DOI:10.1016/S0140-6736(10)60974-9.)

The Huntington’s Disease Association, a not for profit organisation …