Genotype-phenotype correlation in Chinese patients with spinal and bulbar muscular atrophy

Spinal and bulbar muscular atrophy (SBMA) is an X-linked recessive motor neuron disease characterized by slowly progressive weakness and atrophy of proximal limbs and bulbar muscles. To assess the genotype-phenotype correlation in Chinese patients, we identified 155 patients with SBMA and retrospectively examined available data from laboratory tests and neurophysiological analyses. Correlations between genotype and phenotype were analyzed. There was an inverse correlation between the length of CAG repeats and age at first muscle weakness (p<0.0001). The serum creatine kinase level showed a significant inverse correlation with disease duration and the age at examination (p=0.019 and p=0.004, respectively). Unlike previous classification of motor- and sensory-dominant phenotypes, all findings of nerve conduction, except the amplitudes of median nerve compound motor action potential, were positively correlated to the length of CAG repeats. A significant decline in sensory nerve action potential amplitudes may assist differential diagnosis of SBMA.