Rehabilitation in Muscular Dystrophies: Changing Approach

Objective and subjective measures of sleep in men with Muscular Dystrophy

“…Of interest however was the within group associations, showing that those with poor sleep tended to have higher body fat consistent with BMD, and higher levels of fatigue (MFIS total), consistent with BMD and FSHD. The present study has therefore, provided further evidence for the health model proposed previously by de Groot et al [ 11 ], through associations between sleep in multiple classifications of MD and QoL. In addition, associations were consistently identified between measures of body composition, function scales and fatigue with Sleep Measures in adults with MD in the present study.…”

“…In conclusion, this study has identified a high prevalence of impaired self-reported sleep in adults with MD, along with a wide range of associations including fatigue and QoL. These findings have helped further develop an initial health model for adults with MD by de Groot et al [ 11 ], resulting in a more comprehensive health model suggested by the present authors. This health models proposes future interventions that can improve sleep quality, will have benefits on QoL in adults with MD, and reduce some of the burden associated with these conditions.…”

“…Fatigue has become a prevalent feature of MD research [ 13 , 73 ], particularly within FSHD [ 21 , 74 ], whereby the current authors reported its impact on QoL across adults with MD previously [ 5 ]. Therefore, the present authors propose an updated health model for adults with MD ( Fig 2 ), whereby independence, body composition and sleep disturbances are included and evidenced to impact QoL across adults with MD, through our current and previous work [ 5 , 63 ], as well as work evidenced in the original de Groot model [ 11 ].…”

“…More recently, an increasing volume of research has been developed in order to identify influences on quality of life (QoL) and health status in other forms of MD [ 5 – 10 ]. The Health Status in MD model by de Groot et al [ 11 ] acknowledges the importance of sleep disturbances along with pain and fatigue as contributing factors to QoL and health in MD. Evidence surrounding prevalence and impact of pain and fatigue on QoL is relatively well-established [ 12 – 15 ], sleep disturbances on the other hand, and the broader concept of sleep quality, remains comparably under-reported in adults with MD.…”

“…Both pain and fatigue have been shown to be symptomatic within MD [ 6 , 14 , 20 – 22 ], indeed, our research group recently presented associations between both pain and fatigue with QoL in adults with MD [ 5 ]. Despite the presentation of pain and fatigue in MD [ 5 , 14 ], well established associations with sleep quality in other clinical conditions [ 19 ], and inclusion within the Health Status in MD model [ 11 ], direct evidence of associations between sleep quality with pain, fatigue and QoL remains limited in adults with MD, with the exception of DMD [ 23 ].…”