RESUMO
INTRODUCTION: A study was made in the Clinical Provincial Hospital for Surgical Teaching Saturnino Lora in Santiago de Cuba. A group of 23 patients over 50 years of age attended this centre and were treated for the onset of myasthenia gravis between January 1983 and December 1997. OBJECTIVE AND METHODS: To determine some of the clinical and evolutive characteristics of the disease such as: sex, age of onset, initial symptoms of the illness, clinical forms and also the different types of treatment used, evolution and mortality. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: There was a clear predominance of men, the commonest age of onset was from sixty to seventy, the predominant clinical forms were generalized (mild or moderate), and the initial symptoms were ocular. The most commonly used treatment was by anticholinesterases and steroids. There is significant variability in the evolution of these patients. The larger group improved. However, there was high mortality, mainly in older men.