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[Late onset forms of myasthenia gravis. Comparison with early-onset myasthenia gravis]
A Barbaud1, B Carlander, M Pagès
1Service de Neurologie A et Maladies Neurovasculaires, CHU Gui de Chauliac, Montpellier, France.
Introduction:
The incidence of myasthenia gravis appears to be increasing in elderly but few studies have been devoted to late onset myasthenia gravis.
Patients And Methods:
We retrospectively compared myasthenic patients with an age at onset above or below 35 years which were observed in two departments of Neurology from 1980 to 2002.
Results:
81 cases were included, 28 of which were late onset myasthenia gravis. The two populations were similar in terms of sex-ratio, clinical symptoms, course of the disease and therapeutic response. There was a trend for older patients to present more frequently at onset with dysphagia and axial or proximal involvement, and to have extra-ocular symptoms more quickly. Antibodies against acetylcholine receptor and striated muscle were statistically more frequent in elder patients.
Conclusions:
A late onset is not a factor of poor prognosis in myasthenia gravis and older patients must be treated in the same way than younger ones.
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