Duchenne muscular dystrophy in Wales: a 15 year study, 1971 to 1986

A register of families with Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) in Wales was set up in 1973 and has been regularly maintained ever since. All women at significant risk in these families were offered estimation of their carrier status by creatine kinase and pedigree analysis. A total of 225 of the 512 women tested was assigned a risk of carrying the DMD gene of less than 5%. One hundred and twenty live births from this group were notified to the register and only one was an affected male. This was the expected number and shows that the risks given were largely accurate. Women given a risk of 5% or greater were offered fetal sexing with termination of any male. Amniocentesis was of limited value and chorionic villus sampling, introduced in 1984, was acceptable to more women at risk. The incidence of DMD in Wales dropped from one in 3435 at the beginning of the study to one in 4046 by 1982, and the proportion of recurrent cases from 40% to 22%. Common reasons for recurrence were birth of a second affected boy before diagnosis of the first, and failure of families with affected dead members in previous generations to be notified to the register. Maintaining an accurate register of DMD families is an essential tool in their management.