In this retrospective study that took place over the last 30 years, the life expectancy in patients suffering from Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) was investigated by analysing the role of ventilatory assistance and causes of death. One hundred and nineteen adult DMD patients were followed from 1981 to 2011 at the AFM Yolaine de Kepper centre, Saint-Georges-sur-Loire, France. Patients’ life expectancy was calculated using Kaplan-Meier model. The results show that life expectancy without or with ventilatory assistance was 22.16 and 36.23 years, respectively. Similarly, life expectancy of patients born from 1970 (mostly with ventilatory assistance) was 40.95 years from 1970 and 25.77 years before 1970. Cardiac origins of death have increased from 8% to 44%. In this study, ventilatory assistance, mostly through tracheotomy, prolongs life expectancy of DMD patients by more than 15 years. It allows conservation of a satisfactory quality of life, and should be systematically proposed to patients.
