The clinical study of myasthenia gravis in 232 elderly patients / 中华老年医学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To investigate the clinical features of myasthenia gravis (MG) in elderly people. Methods Elderly patients among all MG patients observed from February 1977 to February 2003 were respectively reviewed. Results Of 3010 MG patients,232(7.7%) were identified with the onset of the disease after or at the age of 60,and males were more than females with the ratio of 1.3∶1. The first and most commonly seen symptom in the elderly people after MG onset were ocular manifestation,occurring in 79.3%. Bulbar symptoms(12.9%) such as dysarthria and swallowing difficulties were the following symptoms. The systemic form (62.9%) were significantly more than ocular form (37.1%). There were less MG patients with autoimmunity diseases such as thyroid diseases associated with MG than that with the other senile diseases,and the myasthenia crisis were even less in the elderly patients with MG. However,it was found that more MG patients with thymoma than with other thymus abnormality. Conclusions The elderly MG patients had its distinctive clinical features. It is beneficial for diagnosing and treating the MG patients in the elderly people by understanding these clinical features.