Infantile myasthenia remains ocular and usually evolves favourably

A retrospective study of 859 patients followed by a Shanghai hospital for Myasthenia gravis diagnosed before the age of 14 found :

  • an ocular form in 97.8% of cases, which only generalized in 14% of patients;
  • 21.7% were in stable complete remission, 15.3% in pharmaceutical remission, and 42% of patients had achieved minimal manifestation status by the time of their last consultation, five to 16 years after the onset of the disease;
  • of the 2.1% of patients who had at least one myasthenic attack, none died;
  • the onset of myasthenia before puberty is predictive of a favorable outcome.

 

Clinical Features, Treatment, and Prognostic Factors of Childhood-Onset Myasthenia Gravis in a Large Chinese Cohort. Bi Z, Ge H, Zhang Q et al. Pediatr Neurol. 2023 Sep;146:31-39