whether or not you might one day get HD is to have the gene test. As someone with first degree relatives with HD you are at a 1 in 2 or 50% statistical risk of inheriting the gene. Most people who are gene positive develop symptoms by their early 50's, but some get symptoms in their older years. We don't really understand why there is so much variation in the age of onset Andrew Does HD usually occur earlier in the next generation if the mother is the carrier of the gene? Susie Aged 65 Typically people with the Huntington's Disease (HD) gene get symptoms from late 30s to mid-50s, although any age of onset is possible from childhood to old age. The size of the CAG repeat count does not reliably predict the age of onset in most cases. The phenomenon of anticipation occurs when the size of the CAG repeat expansion increases at conception, that is when egg meets sperm. The reason why it happens is not understood. Most often anticipation occurs when the gene positive parent is the father rather than the mother, but vary rarely anticipation occurs when the mother is gene positive. Many men with the gene for HD have children without the CAG count increasing. Anticipation can result in either a boy or a girl child having a bigger CAG repeat length than the gene positive parent . The important thing is the sex of the parent rather than that of the child. When