Background

Multimorbidity is an emerging challenge in older myasthenia gravis patients, which can have even greater impact on quality of life and outcome than symptoms of myasthenia.

Aims of the Study

We aimed to investigate comorbidities in older population and compare early-onset (EOMG) and late-onset (LOMG) myasthenia patients.

Methods

We investigated clinical information of patients from Oxford Myasthenia Centre age 50 or older. Data on 60 chronic disorders were extracted.

Results

We included 327 myasthenia patients (30.9% EOMG and 69.1% LOMG) with a median age of 70 years. Comorbidities were present in 94.5% of patients and accumulated with age. Hypertension (58.4% vs. 31.7%), hypercholesterolemia (41.2% vs. 23.8%), diabetes (24.8% vs. 11.9%), cataract (15.5% vs. 5.0%) and prostate disorders (15.0% vs. 2.0%) were more common in LOMG than EOMG, but there were no differences between 70 EOMG and 70 LOMG patients matched according to age and sex.

Conclusions

Comorbidities in older patients with myasthenia are very common, increase with age, and do not differ between early- and late-onset disease.