Hand versus mouth for call-bell activation by DMD and Becker patients

Severe hand dysfunction is common in patients with Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) and may preclude the use of conventional call-bells. We prospectively evaluated a call-bell with two hand-controlled interfaces (push-button and key-pinch) and two mouth-controlled interfaces (sip-or-puff) in 32 consecutive DMD and Becker patients. Patients called intentionally 348 times, using the sip-or-puff device 237 times and the hand-controlled interfaces 147 times. Use of the hand-controlled interfaces correlated with key-pinch strength (R=0.366; P=0.04). Six patients reported being unable to call with the hand interfaces and five patients reported temporary call failure due to inaccessibility of the sip-or-puff interface. Ease-of-use scores on a visual analogue scale were best for puff, followed by sip then key-pinch interrupter and push-button (8.7+/-2.1, 7.5+/-2.7, 6.2+/-3.9, and 0.5+/-2.0 respectively; ANOVA: P<0.00001). In conclusion sip-or-puff devices should be considered more often to provide neuromuscular patients with greater independence.