Dysphagia is present but mild in myotonic dystrophy type 2

207th ENMC Workshop on chronic respiratory insufficiency in myotonic dystrophies: Management and implications for research, 27–29 June 2014, Naarden, The Netherlands

“…More specifically, inspiratory muscle weakness is responsible for the restrictive pattern of lung function, accounting at least in part for chest wall stiffness and for sleep disordered breathing while expiratory muscle weakness is responsible mainly for impairment of cough (or reduced ability to cough) which will both increase the likelihood of developing chest infection and pneumonia and adversely affect recovery from them. Upper airway muscle weakness, oropharyngeal and esophageal muscle weakness cause dysarthria and dysphagia increasing the risk aspiration pneumonia and gastrointestinal reflux [35,36]. The summative effect of these various respiratory system impairments leads to a decrease in PaO2 and increase in PaCO2, initially during REM sleep.…”

Dysarthria and dysphagia are highly prevalent among various types of neuromuscular diseases

“…Although some studies have investigated the prevalence of dysphagia and dysarthria among patients with NMD, these studies focused only on specific diseases such as myotonic dystrophy, myas thenia gravis, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and inclusion body myositis [6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13], all of which are well-documented for causing dysarthria and/or dysphagia. However, little information is available regarding the prevalence rates of dysarthria and dysphagia in a wider range of NMD disorders.…”

Pain in patients with myotonic dystrophy type 2: A postal survey in finland

“…9 In addition, abdominal pain, dysphagia, and poor sleep quality have been reported to be characteristic in DM2. [10][11][12] The aim of this postal survey was to assess the prevalence, characteristics, and severity of pain, muscular, and depressive symptoms and quality of life in Finnish DM2 patients.…”