Life spans of Duchenne muscular dystrophy patients in the hospital care program in Japan.

Analysis of 176 autopsy cases of Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) demonstrated that (1) hospitalized patients showed longer life spans than their non-hospitalized affected maternal uncles, (2) patients hospitalized recently lived longer than those hospitalized in the past, and (3) pulmonary infection has become a less frequent cause of death in recent years, whereas dystrophic changes of the cardiac and respiratory muscles are more closely related with recent fatal cases. These results indicate the changing life span expectancy of patients with DMD and the changes in cause of death over the last decade, probably owing to the benefits of a hospital care program.