title: Feeding problems and weight gain in Duchenne muscular dystrophy.
abstract: The aim of the study was to conduct a survey using a dedicated questionnaire to estimate feeding difficulties, gastrointestinal involvement and weight gain in a population of 118 Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) patients (age range 13.80-35.8 years). All the answers were entered in a database and the data analysed subdividing the cohort into age groups (3-9, 9-13, 13-18, 18-24, 24-30, 30-36 years). The results indicate that chewing difficulties are frequent and become increasingly present with age, associated with a progressive increase of the duration of meals. Episodes of choking or other clinical signs of swallowing difficulties are in contrast much less frequent even after age 18. Aspiration pneumonia were also not very frequent and only occurred in 7/118. Clinical signs of gastroesophageal reflux requiring treatment were only found in 5 while 43/118 complained of constipation requiring treatment. Very few of our patients had their weight above 2 SD (n = 4) and this was always found in patients between 9 and 18 years while after this age there was an increasing number of patients with weight below 2 SD. The results of our survey suggest that although choking is one of the most feared complications in patients with DMD, clinical signs of swallowing abnormalities are infrequent when collecting clinical information retrospectively. Further studies using an objective evaluation such as videofluoroscopy are needed to identify minor signs that may not be obvious on clinical examination.
authors.affiliation: Department of Child Neurology, Policlinico Gemelli, Largo Gemelli 00168, Roma, Italy.
authors.forename: Marika
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Pane
authors.forename: Isabella
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Vasta
authors.forename: Sonia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Messina
authors.forename: Domenica
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Sorleti
authors.forename: Annie
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Aloysius
authors.forename: Federico
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Sciarra
authors.forename: Fortunato
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Mangiola
authors.forename: Maria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kinali
authors.forename: Enzo
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Ricci
authors.forename: Eugenio
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Mercuri
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D015331:Cohort Studies; D001068:Feeding and Eating Disorders / Q000145:classification / Q000209:etiology*; D005260:Female; D005767:Gastrointestinal Diseases / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000209:etiology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D020388:Muscular Dystrophy, Duchenne / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000503:physiopathology*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013256:Steroids / Q000627:therapeutic use; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D015430:Weight Gain / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D013256:Steroids