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WEDNESDAY, May 9 (HealthDay News) -- Long-term daily steroid treatments helped boys with Duchenne muscular dystrophy walk on their own for a longer period of time and reduced their risk of scoliosis, an Ohio State University study found.

Symptoms of this condition, which affects about one in 3,500 boys, begin in early childhood and rapidly progress. Most patients lose the ability to walk by between ages 9 to 11. There is no cure.

Researchers reviewed the medical records of 143 boys with Duchenne muscular dystrophy treated at the university's Muscular Dystrophy Clinic in Columbus. Of those boys, 75 had received daily treatment with corticosteroids for an average of eight years, while the remainder had received only a brief dose of steroids or none at all.

The boys who received the long-term daily steroid treatment walked by themselves 3.3 years longer and had a lower rate of scoliosis (31 percent vs. 91 percent) than untreated boys, the study found.

But the researchers also found that boys who received daily steroid treatment were more likely to suffer vertebral fractures than (32 percent vs. 0 percent), and were 2.6 times more likely to suffer a leg fracture than untreated boys.

This may be due to increased body weight and the fact the treated boys walked longer than untreated boys, the researchers said.

"The benefits of steroids come at a cost of the side effects, and patients and parents need to weigh the benefits and risk of steroid treatments in order to make an informed decision," study author Wendy King, of the neurology department at Ohio State University Medical Center, said in a prepared statement.

The study is in the May 8 issue of Neurology.

More information

The Muscular Dystrophy Association has more about Duchenne muscular dystrophy.