Takeaway
Lifestyle factors including cognitive reserve and social network size and diversity are associated with serum neurofilament light protein (NfL) levels in Huntington's disease (HD) mutation carriers, and these associations are different to those seen in healthy controls.
Why this matters
Neurofilament light protein is a potential prognostic biomarker for HD onset and progression, and lifestyle factors have been shown to influence HD onset and rate of decline.
This is the first study suggesting that lifestyle factors could influence serum NfL levels, which should be taken into account when considering NfL as a biological marker of disease progression in clinical studies.