title: Activities of daily living (ADL) structure of patients with Duchenne muscular dystrophy, including adults.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To study the activities of daily living (ADL) structure of patients with Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD).
  
  
  METHODS
  Cross-sectional survey.
  
  
  METHODS
  Seventy-two patients with DMD (mean [SD] age, 17.2 [8.1] years), recruited in 160-bed regional center for neuromuscular disease. methods: We assessed 72 participants with the Functional Independence Measure (FIM SM), and determined the difficulty order of the FIM SM items with the percentage of patients who were independent (6 or 7) for each FIM item (% independence).
  
  
  RESULTS
  The ADL of patients with DMD had an order in terms of difficulty. For the motor subscale, the most difficult item was stairs, and the easiest item was locomotion. On the cognitive subscale, problem solving was the most difficult item. When we compared item difficulty between patients <15 years of age and those > or =15 years, the % independence was lower in the older age group for all motor items. The decrease in the % independence of the eating item with age was significant; however bladder management was well maintained.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  ADL of patients with DMD has a specific difficulty order. The order of difficulty is based on the relative level of independence/dependence. The difficulty order was maintained, although the structure of ADL changed with age.
authors.affiliation: Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, School of Medicine, Keio University, 35 Shinanomachi, Shinjyuku, Tokyo, Japan tofuji@xc5.so-net.ne.jp
authors.forename: Toshiyuki
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Fujiwara
authors.forename: Aya
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Tanabe
authors.forename: Ken
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Uchikawa
authors.forename: Tetsusya
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Tsuji
authors.forename: Akira
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Tanuma
authors.forename: Kimitaka
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Hase
authors.forename: Meigen
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Liu
mesh_terms: D000203:Activities of Daily Living; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D003071:Cognition; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003672:Defecation; D004185:Disability Evaluation; D004435:Eating; D006801:Humans; D007297:Inpatients; D008297:Male; D009043:Motor Activity; D020388:Muscular Dystrophy, Duchenne / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D010045:Outpatients; D014554:Urination; D055815:Young Adult