Neurodevelopmental, behavioral, and emotional symptoms in Becker muscular dystrophy.
INTRODUCTION
Becker muscular dystrophy (BMD) results in decreased dystrophin with implications for mental health.


METHODS
This is a retrospective case series of neurodevelopmental, behavioral, and emotional symptoms and respective pharmacotherapies of 70 patients with BMD.


RESULTS
Fifty-four (77.1%) patients exhibited at least one symptom, and 19 (27.1%) patients exhibited four or more symptoms. The most prevalent symptoms were specific learning disabilities or special education needs (31.4%), inattention/hyperactivity (35.7%), language/speech delays (35.7%), and emotional or behavioral dysregulation (38.6%). Fisher's exact tests indicated that anxiety was more prevalent with mutations upstream of exon 30 (P = .049), but the prevalence of other symptoms did not differ with respect to mutation sites. Similarly, the number of symptoms individual patients with BMD exhibited did not differ with respect to mutation sites. Seventeen (24.3%) patients required pharmacotherapy to manage symptoms.


DISCUSSION
Neurodevelopmental, behavioral, and emotional symptoms are prevalent in patients with BMD regardless of dystrophin gene mutation site.
['Lambert|Joshua T|JT|0000-0002-3195-8735', 'Darmahkasih|Andrew J|AJ|0000-0002-4902-2425', 'Horn|Paul S|PS|', 'Rybalsky|Irina|I|', 'Shellenbarger|Karen C|KC|', 'Tian|Cuixia|C|', 'Wong|Brenda L|BL|']
D000293:Adolescent D000342:Affective Symptoms D001007:Anxiety D001289:Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity D002648:Child D002675:Child, Preschool D002658:Developmental Disabilities D016189:Dystrophin D005260:Female D006801:Humans D007223:Infant D007805:Language Development Disorders D007859:Learning Disabilities D008297:Male D020388:Muscular Dystrophy, Duchenne D009154:Mutation D015995:Prevalence D012189:Retrospective Studies D055815:Young Adult
neurodevelopmental behavioral emotional Becker muscular dystrophy dystrophin pharmacotherapy learning disabilities cognitive impairment fluoxetine genetics