An Italian team carried out a neuropsychological evaluation of 20 patients with Duchenne muscular dystrophy (aged between 7 and 17), and in particular their social cognitive abilities.
- The patients performed less well on items concerning theory of mind and affect recognition, both in the presence and absence of another cognitive deficit.
- Only two previous studies had reported impairment of social cognition in dystrophinopathies.
This work provides additional data supporting the possibility that impaired social cognition is one of the neurological manifestations of DMD, and not a comorbidity. It underlines the importance of evaluating social cognition more widely in these patients.
