Patients with myasthenia gravis (MG) who also have at least one other autoimmune disease do not necessarily have a more severe MG disease course or poorer long-term outcomes, according to a study recently published in PLOS One.
Autoimmune diseases are disorders in which the body’s immune system acts against itself, instead of its normal function of fighting foreign illnesses. Having one autoimmune disease increases the likelihood of developing another, with possible unforeseen implications.
Investigators from Turkey sought to assess the prevalence of concurrent autoimmune diseases in patients with MG, as well as their impact on the human body. They reviewed the clinical records of patients with MG who were admitted to a Turkish hospital from 2010 to 2024.
A total of 302 patients were included in this analysis. Of these, 41 had at least one other autoimmune disease present, while 261 did not have any other autoimmune diseases. The most common comorbid autoimmune disease was Hashimoto’s thyroiditis (affecting 22 patients), followed by Graves’ disease (affecting 10 patients); both are disorders of the thyroid gland.
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Compared with individuals without another autoimmune disease, patients with MG who had other autoimmune diseases did not demonstrate any statistically significant difference in terms of the rate of myasthenia exacerbations, admissions into intensive care, patient outcomes or poorer Myasthenia Gravis Foundation of America classification. In other words, the presence of concurrent autoimmune diseases did not have any bearing on disease severity or prognosis (i.e., the likely outcome of a disease).
“In conclusion, our study shows that comorbid autoimmune diseases do not significantly affect the clinical presentation, treatment response, or outcomes in MG,” the authors of the study wrote.
Nevertheless, women with MG were more likely to be diagnosed with concurrent autoimmune diseases. Given that women often experience a higher frequency of myasthenia exacerbations and more significant rituximab usage, more studies are needed to explore the relationship between comorbid autoimmune diseases in MG and patient outcomes.
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