Perspectives on Palliative Care Among Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy Patients and Their Families in Singapore.

Introduction: With better medical care, patients with Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) now live longer but face more complex medical and social needs. This study described the perceptions of DMD patients and their families of disease-specific palliative care services in Singapore.

Materials And Methods: A multicentre, cross-sectional study involving DMD patients and their families was carried out.

3rd College of paediatrics and child health lecture--the past, the present and the shape of things to come..

The growth trends of Singapore children spanning 5 decades are reviewed, based on 8 anthropometric studies from 1957 till 2002. The heights of pre-school children and school age children appear to have optimised according to their genetic potential, but the weights and body mass indices of children still appear to be increasing from 6 to 18 years for both sexes, probably as a consequence of increasing affluence. This trend is reflected in the increasing obesity prevalence in school children over the past 30 years, and the concomitant increased morbidity associated with the metabolic syndrome, necessitates further research into the causes of obesity.