Top

10

Doctor insights on: Who Is Affected By Muscular Dystrophy

Unknown: The incidence is underestimated. Limb girdle dystrophy is actually under diagnosed, although still pretty rare. Always need muscle biopsy to rule out acquired polymyositis. ...Read more

Approximately 14,000: Duchenne muscular dystrophy is a recessive x-linked form of muscular dystrophy, affecting around 1 in 3, 600 boys, which results in muscle degeneration. Approximately 14, 000 americans suffer from dmd. ...Read more

Estimated incidence: Estimated incidence is approx. 1 in 4, 000 male births. ...Read more

X chromosome: The gene for the abnormal protein is located on the x chromosome. Hence it is "x linked" . Mostly boys are affected. ...Read more

Muscle disease: Muscular dystrophy is a worsening disorder that causes muscle weakness. The worst kind is duchenne's dystrophy, that affects only boys, leads to severe weakness, and wheelchair needs, breathing difficulties in the teens. Milder forms can present later or not cause as much disability. These are genetic (runs in families) disorders. ...Read more

Faulty protein: The most common form of muscular dystrophy is caused by an abnormal protein. It causes muscle tissues not to form correctly resulting in replacement of muscle tissue with scar tissue and fatty infiltrate. ...Read more

The muscular: dystrophies (MD) are a group of > 30 genetic diseases that cause progressive weakness and degeneration of muscles. Age of onset, distribution & extent of skeletal muscle weakness, rate of progression, cardiac & smooth muscle involvement & pattern of inheritance differ. Duchenne MD affects 1:3500- 1:6000 male births/year in the US. See http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/md/detail_md & mda.org. ...Read more

It is different: It is different from one person to the other and what type of muscular dystrophy the person has. Some patients have a mild form of the disease and some of the muscular dystrophies can be associated with heart involvement and breathing difficulties, so it could be serious. ...Read more

Muscle: It is a progressive disorder affecting the muscle causing weakness. ...Read more

Inborn muscle diseas: Nih website has lots of excellent information: http://www.Ninds.Nih.Gov/disorders/md/md.Htm "the muscular dystrophies (md) are a group of more than 30 genetic diseases characterized by progressive weakness and degeneration of the skeletal muscles that control movement. Some forms of md are seen in infancy or childhood, while others may not appear until middle age or later. ". ...Read more