Childhood Polio Survivors Age Normally

Ivanhoe Newswire
Tuesday, August 22, 2006; 12:00 AM

(Ivanhoe Newswire) -- Patients who had polio when they were children and survived the disease do well as they age.

A new report from the Mayo Clinic reveals most survivors of childhood polio may not age any differently than adults who did not have the disease. And the reason survivors lose strength in their muscles may just be from the aging process itself.

Researchers studied 50 polio survivors and followed them for 15 years. Their average age was 53, and they had had the disease an average of 40 years before the beginning of the study. When participants' strength and loss of neurons were measured five and 15 years later, results show modest declines. Most patients complained they were getting weaker during the study, but this did not correspond with the actual measurements of decline. Researchers say participants instead lost so much strength at the time of their illness that any change is very noticeable to them.

"Overall, we found strength changed very little in these polio survivors as they grew older, and we discovered the neurons dropped off at a rate comparable to other non-polio survivors as they aged," reports lead study author Eric Sorenson, M.D., a Mayo Clinic neurologist. "Those who had weakness problems during our study had a larger deficit at the end of their childhood disease, making them more likely to develop symptoms. So, as deficits at the end of the disease increase, the probability of experiencing post-polio symptoms increases."

The study also found very few participants had to change their homes or add adaptive equipment. Researchers say while it is highly likely childhood polio patients will complain of weakness later in life, they can expect to do well for years without needing to modify their lifestyles.

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SOURCE: Journal of the Peripheral Nervous System, 2006;11