Abstract
Various forms of muscular dystrophies are mostly classified as rare diseases and rare diseases have received considerable attention from the European Union over the past few years. Based on the Council Recommendation of 8 June 2009 on an action in the field of rare diseases, the Czech government has embraced the National Action Plan on Rare Diseases, involving improvements in methodology of data collection on these diseases.
The REaDY project (REgistry of muscular DYstrophy, http://ready.registry.cz) includes registries focusing on four types of neuromuscular disorders: Duchenne/Becker muscular dystrophy, spinal muscular atrophy, myotonic dystrophy, and facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy. As of 30th April 2013, REaDY registries contained data on 708 patients in total.
Data from the REaDY project will lead to improvements in health care planning and predictions, including future estimates of financial costs, as well as costs and needs in the area of health technology (Health Technology Assessment, HTA). The costs are assessed from clinical data and from health care payers' data.