Estimated costs for Duchenne muscular dystrophy care in Brazil

Table 1 Clinical characteristics of patients enrolled in the study

Clinical characteristics	Total patients (n = 27)
Age (years)	15.9 ± 5.5
Age at first symptoms (years)	3.4 ± 2.4
Age at diagnosis (years)	6.2 ± 2.7
Age at the start of any drug treatment (years)^a	6.7 ± 3.6
Patients who are wheelchair users	17 (63%)
Age when started using wheelchair (years)	9.7 ± 2.0
Patients with scoliosis	15 (55%)
Patients using orthesis	8 (29%)
DMD stage^b
I - Pre-symptomatic	1 (4%)
II - Early ambulatory	7 (26%)
III - Late ambulatory (transitional phase)	2 (7%)
IV - Early non-ambulatory	14 (52%)
V - Late non-ambulatory	3 (11%)

^a Value calculated for the 23 patients taking medication to manage DMD. ^b Stage I: mild motor delay, mild muscle hypotonia, clumsy walking (from birth to 3 years of age); Stage II: presence of Gowers’ sign, toe walking, difficulty running, and difficulty climbing up or down stairs (2 to 7 years); Stage III: frequent falls, wheelchair use for long distances; Stage IV: wheelchair user, decreased function of arms, scoliosis, sits with no support from arms; Stage V: increased difficulty to use the upper limbs, restricted daily activities (from the end of adolescence to adulthood) [3, 8, 18].
Values indicated as n (%) or mean ± SD.

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