In recognition of 2016’s World Duchenne Awareness Day, this installment of the 60-Second Symposia highlights five discomfiting facts about Duchenne muscular dystrophy.

5. The condition primarily affects male children.

4. About 1 in 3,600 male babies will inherit the disorder and about 1 in 1,400 may develop the condition spontaneously.

3. Mothers with a defective dystrophin gene have a 50% chance of giving birth to a boy with DMD, as well as a 50% chance of having a girl with the gene mutation.

2. Symptoms typically appear before age 6, but can present in early infancy.

1. At this time, there is no known cure for the disease.

References:

https://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/000705.htm
https://www.mda.org/media/press-releases/closer-ever
http://investors.bmrn.com/releasedetail.cfm?ReleaseID=944400
http://medicalxpress.com/news/2015-11-duchenne-muscular-dystrophy-stem-cell.html

Jill Hechtman, MD
Medical Director: Tampa Obstetrics

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View the video below to learn more about World Duchenne Awareness Day.