Effectiveness of steroid treatment in myasthenia gravis: a retrospective study

Abstract

The records of 142 patients with generalized autoimmune myasthenia gravis who had been treated with steroids as the single immunosuppressive agent, collected at regular intervals, were employed for a retrospective evaluation. The effectiveness of treatment was assessed after 24 months; the data from the 6th and 12th months were also considered. After 24 months, 63.4% of the whole sample had improved (33.8% were in clinical or pharmacological remission); 13.4% were unchanged or had worsened and 22.3% had moved to a different immunosuppressive treatment. The rate of positive outcome was higher in patients over the age of 40 at disease onset.