Taste disorders and alopecia in myasthenia gravis

Non-motor symptoms in myasthenia gravis (MG) are rarely confirmed. Although there are some small cohort studies, a large-systemic survey has not yet been performed.

We investigated the incidence and clinical characteristics of patients with MG who had taste disorders and alopecia using data of 1710 patients with MG enrolled in the Japan MG Registry 2021.

Among them, 104 (6.1%) out of 1692 patients and 138 (8.2%) out of 1688 patients had histories of taste disorders and alopecia, respectively. Among the patients with MG, taste disorders were significantly more common in women, those with severe symptoms, refractory MG, or thymoma-associated MG, and were less common in those with ocular MG. The taste disorders often occurred after the onset of MG and often responded to MG treatments. Alopecia was more common in MG patients with a history of bulbar palsy and thymoma, and it often occurred before the onset of MG and sometimes responded to MG treatments. Multivariate logistic regression analysis revealed taste disturbance was associated with worst quantitative MG score and thymoma-associated MG; and alopecia was associated with thymoma-associated MG.

Clinicians should be aware of the non-motor symptoms in MG, especially in patients with severe myasthenic symptoms and thymoma-associated MG.