Background

Pulmonary and upper limbs function of children with Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) are known to deteriorate throughout the disease process. However, there is a lack of information on the extent of impairments in the early stages of DMD when compared to healthy peers.

Objective

To investigate to what extent pulmonary and upper limbs function of children with early stage DMD are impaired.

Methods

Sixty-one children participated in the study: 31 with Grade 1 DMD (study group) according to the Brooke Upper and Lower Extremity Functional Classification Systems, and 30 age matched healthy peers (control group). Pulmonary function was determined with pulmonary function tests. The Performance of Upper Limb test was used to evaluate the upper limbs function.

Results

Study and control groups were homogenous in terms of physical characteristics (p > 0.05). Pulmonary and upper limbs function of children with DMD were about 85% and 93% of healthy peers, respectively.

Conclusion

This study provides evidence for deterioration of pulmonary and upper limbs function in children with early stage DMD. Better knowledge of deterioration rate over time may help therapists to better plan and update their plan of care.

中文翻译：

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与健康同龄人相比，早期杜氏肌营养不良症儿童的肺和上肢功能

背景

众所周知，杜氏肌营养不良症 (DMD) 儿童的肺和上肢功能在整个疾病过程中都会恶化。然而，与健康的同龄人相比，缺乏关于 DMD 早期阶段损伤程度的信息。

客观的

调查早期DMD儿童肺功能和上肢功能受损的程度。

方法

61 名儿童参与了该研究：31 名根据布鲁克上下肢功能分类系统患有 1 级 DMD（研究组），以及 30 名年龄匹配的健康同龄人（对照组）。肺功能通过肺功能测试确定。上肢性能测试用于评估上肢功能。

结果

研究组和对照组在身体特征方面是同质的（p  >  0.05）。DMD患儿的肺和上肢功能分别约为健康同龄人的85%和93%。

结论

本研究为早期 DMD 儿童肺和上肢功能恶化提供了证据。随着时间的推移，更好地了解恶化率可能有助于治疗师更好地计划和更新他们的护理计划。