RESUMEN
BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Palliative care is an important area of intervention in neurodegenerative diseases. The aim of this study is to understand the relationship between Palliative Care Needs and Caregiver Burden among persons diagnosed with neurodegenerative diseases. METHODS: A cross-sectional study design was adopted to explore the research problem. A prospective sample of 120 participants (60 Patient Caregiver dyads) of Motor Neurone Disease (MND) and Parkinson's disease (PD) were recruited for the study based on inclusion and exclusion criteria from a quaternary referral care centre for neurology in south India. Patients seeking care were recruited for the study consecutively. Palliative care outcome scale and Zarit Burden Interview scale were administered to understand the relationship. RESULTS: It was found that Palliative care outcomes score was positively correlated with caregiver burden (r = 0.597), showing that there is a bi-directional relationship between palliative care needs and caregiver burden. CONCLUSION: Irrespective of the differences in illness characteristics, the study found that palliative care needs are high among chronic neurological conditions which requires a noncategorical psychosocial approach in ensuring care.
RESUMEN
BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Studies of cases of Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) and Becker muscular dystrophy (BMD) confirmed by multiplex ligation-dependent probe amplification (MLPA) have determined the clinical characteristics, genotype, and relations between the reading frame and phenotype for different countries. This is the first such study from India. METHODS: A retrospective genotype-phenotype analysis of 317 MLPA-confirmed patients with DMD or BMD who visited the neuromuscular clinic of a quaternary referral center in southern India. RESULTS: The 317 patients comprised 279 cases of DMD (88%), 32 of BMD (10.1%), and 6 of intermediate phenotype (1.9%). Deletions accounted for 91.8% of cases, with duplications causing the remaining 8.2%. There were 254 cases of DMD (91%) with deletions and 25 (9%) due to duplications, and 31 cases (96.8%) of BMD with deletions and 1 (3.2%) due to duplication. All six cases of intermediate type were due to deletions. The most-common mutation was a single-exon deletion. Deletions of six or fewer exons constituted 68.8% of cases. The deletion of exon 50 was the most common. The reading-frame rule held in 90% of DMD and 94% of BMD cases. A tendency toward a lower IQ and earlier wheelchair dependence was observed with distal exon deletions, though a significant correlation was not found. CONCLUSIONS: The reading-frame rule held in 90% to 94% of children, which is consistent with reports from other parts of the world. However, testing by MLPA is a limitation, and advanced sequencing methods including analysis of the structure of mutant dystrophin is needed for more-accurate assessments of the genotype-phenotype correlation.
