A retrospective study of the records of 281 patients with autoimmune myasthenia gravis followed by an Israeli specialist centre between 2000 and 2022 reveals that:
- 5.7% of them have a first- or second-degree relative with the same disease, a figure almost identical to that of a previous study (5.6%) conducted in the United States.
- Compared to sporadic cases of myasthenia gravis, these familial cases are distinguished by an earlier onset and a more often generalised and severe form of myasthenia, but they have a similar long-term response to treatment.
A review of the literature identified the same phenotypic trends for 73 familial cases of myasthenia published elsewhere.
