Nutritional assessment of patients with neuromuscular diseases.

Objective: To study the nutritional status of patients with Duchenne muscular dystrophy and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

Design: A total of 34 Duchenne muscular dystrophy and seven amyotrophic lateral sclerosis patients were studied. Body mass index, patient's body weight for zero muscle mass as a percentage of the theoretical weight for zero muscle mass, and creatinine-height index were calculated.

Peak flow and peak cough flow in the evaluation of expiratory muscle weakness and bulbar impairment in patients with neuromuscular disease.

Objective: To study the expiratory muscle force and the ability to cough estimated by the peak expiratory flow and peak cough flow in patients with Duchenne muscular dystrophy and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

Design: A total of 27 patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and 52 patients with Duchenne muscular dystrophy were studied. From the group of 144 normal subjects of this laboratory, we selected 38 for comparison.