Dutch rehabilitation physicians’ perspectives on contracture management in children with spinal muscular atrophy: challenges in a changing landscape
Bibliographic record
Abstract
Background: Many children with hereditary proximal spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) develop joint contractures. With the introduction of disease-modifying treatments (DMTs) for SMA, the improved functional prognosis may change the focus of (preventive) contracture management. Objective: This study aimed to describe current approaches to contracture management among Dutch pediatric rehabilitation physicians caring for children with SMA receiving DMT, and to explore the underlying considerations and clinical reasoning that inform their decisions on contracture management in the evolving therapeutic landscape. Methods: All registered pediatric rehabilitation physicians (n = 151) received a survey, addressing two main topics: (1) indication and purpose of contracture management, and (2) alignment of clinical decision-making with current guidelines. To this end, three standardized case scenarios were presented. Respondents were asked to indicate whether their current choices, were consistent with the guideline recommendations. To obtain a deeper understanding of the considerations and clinical reasoning regarding contracture management in the era of DMTs, we held an advisory group meeting. We audio-recorded the discussions and analyzed the content thematically. Results: The response rate was 56%; 41 of these respondents were not involved in SMA care. 38 of the 44 surveys, completed by participants involved in SMA care, were suitable for analysis. All respondents (strongly) agreed about 'optimal sitting posture' being an important treatment goal, 95% agreed on 'pain prevention' and 87% on 'maintaining function'. Physicians recommended daily use of hand splints less frequently in children who started DMT before onset of symptoms (35%) than in children who started DMT at an advanced disease stage (54%). Thematic analysis revealed three themes shaping clinical reasoning: (1) functional prognosis as key element in decision-making; (2) clinical uncertainty regarding contracture intervention; and (3) incorporation of contextual factors. Conclusion: Dutch pediatric rehabilitation physicians describe challenges in clinical decision-making regarding contracture management in a changing landscape for SMA. The use of key principles could facilitate the process, including: (1) assessing the child's functional prognosis; (2) engaging in open discussions with parents about uncertainties arising from limited clinical experience and the evolving understanding of disease trajectories in the early post-DMT era; and (3) applying the ICF framework to incorporate contextual factors into clinical decision-making regarding contracture management.
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How this classification was reachedexpand
Full frame machine prediction
Teacher imitationNot calibrated prevalence, not ground truth. Human validation pending. The Gemma side is a direct model label for every work in the frame, read from the title-only record. The Codex side is a classifier learned from the 10,348 direct Codex labels and calibrated to design-weighted sample rates; fields without enough sample support carry no Codex call. Candidate is the union of the two sides; consensus is their intersection. These outputs are machine_predicted_unvalidated and are not human labels.
Distilled classifier scores by category (both heads)
| Category | Codex | Gemma |
|---|---|---|
| Metaresearch | 0.009 | 0.024 |
| Meta-epidemiology (narrow) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (broad) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Bibliometrics | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Science and technology studies | 0.003 | 0.003 |
| Scholarly communication | 0.003 | 0.003 |
| Open science | 0.001 | 0.003 |
| Research integrity | 0.002 | 0.002 |
| Insufficient payload (model declined to judge) | 0.003 | 0.000 |
Machine scores (provisional)
The two teacher heads of the student model, read on this work. A score orders the frame for review; it never asserts a category, and the validation status ships verbatim with every row.
Baseline scores from an immature model (maturity gate not passed, 7 training rounds). Scores rank; they never assert a category.
score_only:v0-immature-baseline · verbatim from the scoring run: score_only means the number may rank works, and no category label ships from itClassification
machine, unvalidatedMachine predicted; a candidate call from one source (direct Gemma or distilled Codex), not a consensus.
How this classification was reached, model by model and score by score, is at the end of the page under "How this classification was reached".