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Abstract
Background Rett syndrome is a complex genetic disorder with age-specific manifestations and over half of the patients surviving into middle age. However, little information about the phenotype of adult individuals with Rett syndrome is available, and mainly relies on questionnaires completed by caregivers. Here, we assess the clinical manifestations and management of adult patients with Rett syndrome and present our experience in transitioning from the paediatric to the adult clinic.
Methods We analysed the medical records and molecular data of women aged ≥18 years with a diagnosis of classic Rett syndrome and/or pathogenic variants in MECP2, CDKL5 and FOXG1, who were in charge of our clinic.
Results Of the 50 women with classic Rett syndrome, 94% had epilepsy (26% drug-resistant), 20% showed extrapyramidal signs, 40% sleep problems and 36% behavioural disorders. Eighty-six % patients exhibited gastrointestinal problems; 70% had scoliosis and 90% low bone density. Breathing irregularities were diagnosed in 60%. None of the patients had cardiac issues. CDKL5 patients experienced fewer breathing abnormalities than women with classic Rett syndrome.
Conclusion The delineation of an adult phenotype in Rett syndrome demonstrates the importance of a transitional programme and the need of a dedicated multidisciplinary team to optimise the clinical management of these patients.
- health care facilities
- manpower
- and services
- child health
- adolescent medicine
- genetics
- genetics
- medical
Data availability statement
Data are available on reasonable request. The datasets analysed during the current study are not publicly available due to privacy policy, but are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
This is an open access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited, appropriate credit is given, any changes made indicated, and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/.
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Data availability statement
Data are available on reasonable request. The datasets analysed during the current study are not publicly available due to privacy policy, but are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
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Footnotes
Contributors Conceptualisation of the ideas, formulation and evolution of research goals and aims, and writing the article: AP and AV. Revision of the article: MPC. Provision of study materials and patients’ management: FG, RA, MNS. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
Funding The authors have not declared a specific grant for this research from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.
Competing interests None declared.
Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.
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