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MONDAY, Jan. 7, 2019 (HealthDay News) — In adolescent patients with Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD), use of a handheld device (HHD) to assess pulmonary function at home is feasible and provides reliable data, according to an analysis recently published in the Journal of Neuromuscular Diseases<\/i>.<\/p>\n
Gunnar M. Buyse, M.D., Ph.D., from University Hospitals Leuven in Belgium, and colleagues assessed the feasibility of home-based monitoring of pulmonary function by an HHD among patients with DMD during a 12-month study period. In addition to the previously published findings of this phase III randomized trial comparing the effect of idebenone versus placebo on loss of pulmonary function in 10- to 18-year-old DMD patients, peak expiratory flow (PEF) measurements were collected weekly at home using a peak flow meter HHD.<\/p>\n
The researchers found a high adherence rate for use of the HHD during the study (75.9 percent). They also observed a correlation between data obtained on the same day by standard spirometry and by HHD for PEF expressed as percent of predicted.<\/p>\n
“This study demonstrates that home-based monitoring of pulmonary function in adolescent patients with DMD using a HHD is feasible, provides reliable data compared to hospital-based spirometry, and is therefore suitable for use in clinical practice and for clinical trials,” the authors write.<\/p>\n
Several authors disclosed financial ties to pharmaceutical companies, including Santhera Pharmaceuticals, which sponsored the study.<\/p>\n