Introduction: The objective of this study was to estimate mortality and survival in a large cohort of myasthenia gravis (MG) patients from Belgrade, Serbia, during the period 1979-2008.
Methods: Data for all patients with MG were collected from hospital records and the Belgrade MG Registry.
Results: Within the 30-year study period, death occurred in 107 (20%) of 562 patients with MG, with MG-related fatality below 2%. The average MG mortality rate was 1.76 per 1,000,000 population (1.26/1,000,000 women, 2.45/1,000,000 men). A statistically significant increase was recorded for the average standardized mortality rate for all patients (P < 0.01). The mean survival from disease onset was 34.3 ± 2.0 years. Significantly shorter survival was observed in men compared with women and in patients older than 50 years compared with younger ones (P < 0.01).
Discussion: We observed long survival and low frequency of MG-related fatalities but increasing average standardized mortality rate, most notably in older men with MG. Muscle Nerve 58: 708-712, 2018.
Keywords: men; mortality; myasthenia gravis; survival; time trends; women.
© 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.