Screening for brain-related comorbidities in Duchenne muscular dystrophy: Construction, reliability, and validity of the BIND screener.
Ruben Miranda, Pien M M Weerkamp, Anna Kolesnik and 12 others
PMID 41531237WHAT IT FOUND
The BIND screener accurately flags brain-related comorbidities in Duchenne muscular dystrophy.
A total score of 20 or higher suggests a high likelihood of existing diagnoses. It is brief, valid across ages, and identifies those needing further neuropsychological assessment.
Key findings
01The BIND screener demonstrated good discriminative ability for identifying individuals with at least one neuropsychiatric or neurodevelopmental disorder, with an area under the curve of 0.784.
02An optimal cut-off score of 20 yielded a sensitivity of 71.6% and specificity of 72.5%, balancing false positives and false negatives effectively.
03The screener showed excellent internal consistency for the total scale (Cronbach's alpha 0.89) and good reliability for domain scores including emotion, academics, behaviour, and cognition.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
The study relied on convenience sampling and self-selection, which may introduce bias and limit generalizability. Data were primarily based on parent or self-report, which may be subject to reporting bias, particularly for internalizing symptoms. The cross-sectional design prevents conclusions about symptom stability or developmental trajectories over time. Clinical data on steroid use and motor function were not available, so their potential influence on behavioral and cognitive scores could not be controlled for. Some subscales, particularly for ASD and memory, showed lower internal consistency and may require refinement.
Declared interests
The study was funded by Parent Project Muscular Dystrophy, Duchenne Parent Project, and the European Commission. One author (EM) declared being a principal investigator and advisory board member for multiple pharmaceutical companies including Italfarmaco, Sarepta, Roche, Santhera, NS Pharma, PTC, Avidity, Entrada, Solid, and Pfizer. The BIND screener is owned by the World Duchenne Organization.
The easy way to misread this
Do not interpret the BIND screener as a diagnostic tool. It is designed to screen for risk and flag individuals who need further comprehensive evaluation. A score below 20 does not rule out the presence of a comorbidity, as sensitivity was 71.6%, meaning some cases may be missed.
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