DALLAS—Less than a quarter of patients with Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) with identified mental health concerns received psychosocial care such as counseling or therapy, according to study results presented at the 2025 Muscular Dystrophy Association Clinical & Scientific Conference.
“A larger proportion were treated with psychiatric medications, but many remained untreated,” wrote Antara Gupta and Dr. Kaitlin Batley of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center School of Medicine here.
Due to higher rates of behavioral and neuropsychiatric disorders in patients with DMD, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends patients receive routine mental health screenings and referrals to psychotherapy as needed. However, not much is known about the actual use of such services.
This study investigated the need for psychosocial care among 163 male patients and whether that care was provided.
Read more about the DMD care team
According to the findings, medical records identified mental health concerns in 83.44% of the patients. Many patients had multiple mental health issues.
Anger, aggression or irritability affected slightly more than half of the patients. Attention and hyperactivity disorders affected a third and nearly a third of patients had symptoms associated with autism. More than one quarter had cognitive or developmental delays, nearly as many had anxiety and 6.7% had depression.
The study found that two-thirds of patients with mental health concerns were prescribed psychiatric medication, but only 24.3% received psychosocial services. Another 25.7% received referrals for psychosocial services but never received care.
Half were neither referred to, nor received, psychosocial care, according to the abstract.
“This highlights a significant gap in care, which may be attributed to a lack of resources and cultural and language barriers, among other factors,” the researchers wrote.
“These findings underscore the need for a more fortified psychotherapy referral system to improve mental health service utilization and allow each DMD patient to receive multidisciplinary care that ultimately improves long-term outcomes.”
