Myasthenia gravis in pediatric and elderly patients

Objective To determine whether the clinical and pathologic characteristics and prognoses of myasthenia gravis (MG) patients below 15 years differ from those patients over 50 years after thymectomy.Methods We reviewed the registry material of 30 pediatric and 32 elderly MG patients after thymectomy, including their age, sex, clinical classification, pathological types, and prognoses. The Chi-square test or Wilcoxon's rank-sum test was used to determine the statistical differences between the children and eldedy groups.Results No significant difference was seen in sex distribution between the two groups (Chi-square test, P =0. 625), but there were differences in clinical classification: more type Ⅰ was observed in the pediatric group than in the elderly group, but more type Ⅱ or Ⅲ was seen in the eldedy group (Wilcoxon's rank-sum test, P < 0. 001 ). As to pathological types, the pediatric group was also significantly different from the elderly group ( Chi-square test, P