NUTRITIONAL ASSESSMENT IN DUCHENNE MUSCULAR-DYSTROPHY

A specific-weight chart and simple clinical tools are sufficient to ob tain an accurate diagnosis of undernutrition or obesity among patients with Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD). The authors collected weight- for-age measures from a sample of 252 boys and anthropometric data fro m 109 of those boys with DMD. The data confirm the accuracy of the DMD ideal-weight chart previously proposed by Griffiths and Edwards (1988 ). Obesity may occur from the age of seven years; its prevalence seems to reach 54 per cent by the age of 13 years. Undernutrition occurs af ter the age of 14 years, involving 54 per cent of boys at about 18 yea rs of age. Obese boys show a centralized body-fat distribution, in agr eement with other obese populations.