Prenatal, Neonatal, and Early Childhood Features in Congenital Myotonic Dystrophy.

BACKGROUND

Congenital myotonic dystrophy (CDM) is the neonatal onset and most severe presentation of Myotonic Dystrophy type 1. Since it first description, perinatal complications have been detailed including prolonged hospital stay, respiratory and feeding therapy during the neonatal period, although long-term complications are less documented.

OBJECTIVE

Present a prospective cohort of CDM and compare it to the literature of other CDM case series, to adequately describe and contrast the prenatal, neonatal and infancy features of CDM.

METHODS

A 5-year cohort of CDM eligible cases was conducted via the Canadian Pediatric Surveillance Program. 38 patients met the inclusion criteria. Comparison to other CDM case series published in the literature between 1992 and 2016 about perinatal and infancy morbidity.

RESULT: From a total of 118 cases, the most frequent features were Polyhydramnios (58%), feeding therapy (77%), intubation and ventilation (58%); neonatal death was reported in 16% of the cases; the most frequent long-term morbidity were respiratory tract infections.

CONCLUSIONS

We performed a detailed description of the main perinatal features of CDM and precise documentation of the mortality and morbidity during the first five years of life. This is an essential step in the knowledge of the natural history of CDM.