Does muscular dystrophy affect intelligence?

Many people are not very familiar with the disease of muscular dystrophy because its incidence rate is relatively low, but its harmfulness and physical and mental impact on patients are indeed very serious. This disease is a muscle degeneration disease caused by genetic defects. The main clinical manifestations are progressive muscle weakness and muscle atrophy. Since each person's physical constitution and genetic defects are different, the actual symptoms will also vary.

Clinically, it is divided into congenital muscular dystrophy, muscular dystrophy, limb-girdle muscular dystrophy and other types. Among them, muscular dystrophy and myocardial dystrophy are the most common clinical types, both of which are caused by genetic defects. Anti-dystrophy proteins are distributed on the cell membranes of skeletal muscle and cardiac muscle, acting as a scaffold to protect the muscle cell membrane from damage during muscle contraction. Due to genetic defects, the dystrophin protein on the muscle cell membrane functions abnormally, the muscle cells are damaged, progressive necrosis and atrophy occur, and clinical symptoms and signs of muscle weakness appear. The pathological changes of muscular dystrophy include uneven muscle fiber sizes, hyperplasia of adipose connective tissue, and visible muscle fiber necrosis and regeneration. Immunohistochemical staining showed the absence of dystrophin expression, which is of diagnostic significance. Children with muscular dystrophy usually develop symptoms gradually at the age of 3 to 5 years old, and are usually asymptomatic in infancy and childhood. Some careful parents may also find that their children are slightly behind in motor development compared with children of the same age since childhood. For example, normal children can walk independently at the age of one year old, but children with muscular dystrophy may start walking independently at the age of one and a half to two years old, or may always walk unsteadily, which is often mistakenly attributed to calcium deficiency or weak constitution and is ignored.

Because the early symptoms of this disease are often ignored due to symptoms such as stunted development and calcium deficiency, it is difficult to treat. Therefore, we would like to remind all parents and friends that if you find that your child has the above symptoms, take your child to a regular hospital for examination as soon as possible to avoid delaying the best treatment time and causing lifelong regrets for your child.