The quality of life in boys with Duchenne muscular dystrophy

- Boys with Duchenne muscular dystrophy have a relatively satisfactory quality of life.
- These patients have positive attitude toward life despite their progressive disease.
- Social support could improve parents' perception about quality of life.

We conducted a study to evaluate the quality of life in boys with Duchenne muscular dystrophy aged 8-18 years, compared with that in matched healthy controls. A total of 85 boys with Duchenne muscular dystrophy aged 8-18 years and 136 age, sex and living place matched healthy controls were included in this study. Patients and one of their parents separately completed the 27-item Persian version of KIDSCREEN questionnaire (child and adolescent version and parent version). From the children's perspective, the quality of life in patients was found to be lower in two subclasses: “physical activities and health” (p < 0.001) and “friends” (p = 0.005). Parental estimation of their sick child's quality of life was significantly lower than children's own assessment in two subclasses: “physical activities and health” (p < 0.001) and “general mood and feelings” (p < 0.001). Our results indicate that boys with Duchenne muscular dystrophy have quite a satisfactory quality of life. A happier and more hopeful life can be promoted through increasing social support and improving the parental knowledge regarding their child's more positive life perspective.