The clinical course of Duchenne muscular dystrophy in the corticosteroid treatment era: a systematic literature review

Table 1 PECOS criteria to outline the scope of the literature review

Population	Including males with DMD in North America
Exposures/comparators	Subgroup Corticosteroid treatment By age By disease status at baseline
Outcomes	Clinical/functional measures measured over a minimum of 1 year^a Pulmonary function tests: Forced vital capacity, peak expiratory flow Assessment of cardiac function: Ejection fraction, left ventricular end diastolic dimension, shortening fraction Key clinical outcomes LOA Scoliosis Need for ventilatory support Pulmonary dysfunction Cardiac dysfunction/cardiomyopathy Mortality
Study design	Prospective or retrospective studies Case series

DMD Duchenne muscular dystrophy, LOA loss of ambulation
^aOnly commonly reported functional assessments described in included studies are listed. Other functional assessments were searched (e.g. the 6-min walk test, North Star Ambulatory Assessment, Maximum inspiratory/expiratory pressure, Forced expiratory volume) but results to include in this manuscript were not identified

ISSN: 1750-1172