Intellectual functioning in non-Duchenne muscular dystrophy

Intellectual functioning was examined in 31 patients with Becker, facioscapulohumeral, or limb-girdle muscular dystrophy. IQ patterns were compared to those previously reported for patients with Duchenne muscular dystrophy. As with Duchenne patients, a high proportion of non-Duchenne muscular dystrophy patients showed a pattern of a lower verbal scale IQ in relation to their nonverbal, performance scale IQ. Further, there was a relationship between the levels of verbal and performance IQs and the type of muscular dystrophy, with the lower IQs being associated with the more severe types.