Journal of Pediatric Neurology 2012; 10(02): 095-100
DOI: 10.3233/JPN-2012-0542
Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart – New York

Neuromuscular disorders in children in South-Eastern Norway

Magnhild Rasmussen
a   Women and Children's Division, Section of Child Neurology and Division of Surgery and Clinical Neuroscience, Department of Neurology, Resource Centre for Inborn Muscular Diseases, Oslo University Hospital Rikshospitalet, Oslo, Norway
,
Knut Risberg
b   Department of Pediatrics, Akershus University Hospital HF, Lørenskog, Norway
,
Arve Vøllo
c   Department of Pediatrics, Østfold County Hospital HF, Fredrikstad, Norway
,
Ola H. Skjeldal
d   Women and Children's Division, Section of Child Neurology, Oslo University Hospital HF Rikshospitalet, Oslo, Norway
› Author Affiliations

Subject Editor:
Further Information

Publication History

06 May 2011

19 December 2011

Publication Date:
30 July 2015 (online)

Abstract

To describe the group of patients under the age of 18 who have neuromuscular disorders and are from a region with 1.65 million inhabitants in South-Eastern Norway. Patients with known or suspected neuromuscular disorders were identified by neuropediatricians/rehabilitation teams in the region. We registered a total of 141 patients under the age of 18 who had a neuromuscular diagnosis, giving a prevalence of 35.6 × 10-5 in this population. It was possible to check the diagnoses of 122 patients. Duchenne muscular dystrophy was the largest group, followed by peripheral neuropathies, myotonic dystrophy and spinal muscular atrophy. The prevalence figures for the different diagnostic entities are discussed on the basis of previously reported studies from the same area, from a comparable Swedish area and from other countries. We registered patients with a broad spectrum of neuromuscular diagnoses in our health region. The classical, well-known entities were the most prevalent conditions. It was difficult to make a very specific diagnosis in quite a few cases.