Epidemiology of seropositive myasthenia gravis in Greece.
OBJECTIVE
To study the epidemiological characteristics of myasthenia gravis in Greece.


METHODS
A population based study was carried out of seropositive myasthenia gravis in Greece for the period from 1 January 1983 to 30 June 1997; 843 patients were studied.


RESULTS
The average annual incidence for the period 1992-7, for which the database is complete, was 7.40/million population/year (women 7.14; men 7.66). On 1 July 1997, there were 740 prevalent cases. The point prevalence rate was 70.63/million (women 81.58; men 59.39). The average overall annual mortality rate in the patients was 0.67/million population (women 0.53; men 0.82), and the mortality rate attributed to myasthenia gravis was 0.43/million population (women 0.41; men 0.45). The average age at onset was 46.50 years (women 40.16; men 54.46), and the mean age of the prevalent patients was 52.58 (women 47.65; men 59.48). The women:men incidence ratio was 1:1.04, and the prevalence ratio was 1.41:1. It is predicted that the prevalence and women: men prevalence ratio would increase if the patient list included all patients with a date of onset before 1983.


CONCLUSIONS
The largest epidemiological study ever performed on myasthenia gravis is presented. The most important epidemiological indexes are provided.
Poulas
K
K
Department of Biochemistry, Hellenic Pasteur Institute, 127 Vas Sofias Avenue, Athens 11521, Greece.
Tsibri
E
E
Kokla
A
A
Papanastasiou
D
D
Tsouloufis
T
T
Marinou
M
M
Tsantili
P
P
Papapetropoulos
T
T
Tzartos
S J
SJ
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D017668:Age of Onset; D000368:Aged; D001323:Autoantibodies / Q000097:blood*; D001327:Autoimmune Diseases / Q000150:complications; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006115:Greece / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009157:Myasthenia Gravis / Q000097:blood / Q000150:complications / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000276:immunology; D011159:Population Surveillance; D015995:Prevalence; D011863:Radioimmunoassay; D011978:Receptors, Nicotinic / Q000276:immunology*; D012307:Risk Factors; D016036:Seroepidemiologic Studies; D017678:Sex Distribution
D001323:Autoantibodies; D011978:Receptors, Nicotinic