Trajectories of motor function in children with Duchenne muscular dystrophy: A longitudinal study on a Colombian population.

Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD) is characterized by an initial increase in motor function followed by a plateau phase and then entering a phase of steady decline. However, motor evolution of DMD have not been evaluated in developing countries. Therefore, this study aims to evaluate the trajectory of motor function in a sample of Colombian children with DMD. We included 119 children with DMD aged 4.8-19.3 years (mean follow-up = 1.7 years). A linear mixed model was used with age as the time scale and adjusted for covariates using a stepwise regression. Participants showed a progressive decline in motor skills from the age of 5 years with a decrease in speed around the age of 11 years (p < 0.001). After age 11, the decline in motor function was observed to continue until age 20 but at a slower rate (ßAge = -9.64. and ßAge2 = 0.18, p < 0.001 for both). Educational inclusion, glucocorticoid treatment and the number of mutated exons were shown to be associated with the motor performance. These findings may indicate that the evolution of DMD maintains similar patterns between high income countries and the Colombian population. They allow us to adapt and develop treatments that impact the population with DMD in Colombia, based in international evidence.

Physical capacity tests as a complement in the evaluation of the level of disability in women with fibromyalgia: A cross-sectional study.

INTRODUCTION: The association between motor capacity and the level of disability in patients with fibromyalgia remains underexplored. This study aims to explore the association between physical capacity tests explored in the consultation and the level of disability in women with fibromyalgia. METHODS: There were 484 women diagnosed with fibromyalgia who were evaluated with 7 physical capacity tests: 10-m walk, 2-minute walk, 5-repetition getting up from a chair and sitting (G&S), 30-second chair stand, monopodal balance (right and left), and up-and-go. Functional performance was assessed with the Revised Fibromyalgia Impact Questionnaire (FIQR). Evaluation of the association between the physical capacity tests and the FIQR was initially performed using a principal component analysis (PCA). Subsequently, agglomerative hierarchical clustering (AHC) was performed in order to characterize groups of patients. RESULTS: Results show than FIQR and the tests 10-m walk, 2-minute walk, 5-repetition G&S, 30-second chair stand, and up-and-go test were correlated. The results of the AHC determined 3 groups of patients mainly on one motor dimension with significant differences in both the FIQR and the physical capacity tests retained in the PCA (P < 0.001 for all). CONCLUSION: The application of these physical tests is simple, fast and can be a complement to the FIQR questionnaire when determining the level of disability of patients with fibromyalgia, in addition to providing information on the evolution of the patients when these tests are administered in the clinical consultation.