| HOME | HELP | FEEDBACK | SUBSCRIPTIONS | ARCHIVE | SEARCH | TABLE OF CONTENTS | REGISTER |
|
|
|
|
|||||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||||||||
PAPER |
1 Department of Clinical Neurology and Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
2 Division of Clinical Geratology, Nuffield Department of Medicine, University of Oxford, Radcliffe Infirmary, Oxford
Correspondence to:
Correspondence to:
Professor Angela Vincent, Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine, John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford OX3 9DS, UK;
angela.vincent{at}imm.ox.ac.uk
Objective: To examine the incidence and age distribution of positive AChR antibodies in samples referred to diagnostic laboratories in the UK, and the prevalence of positive AChR antibodies in samples from a cohort of older individuals.
Methods: Positive AChR antibody tests were identified from all UK centres registered for the assay with the European quality assurance scheme (EQAS) during 1997–99, and the age and sex specific incidence was calculated, based on the UK population. The prevalence of AChR antibodies in sera from a sample of 2000 individuals aged 
60 years was determined.
Results: 3183 individuals had positive AChR antibody tests on routine screening during the years 1997 to 1999 in the UK, giving an annual incidence of 1.8/100 000. In both sexes, the age specific incidence rose steeply between the ages of 45 and 74, reaching 9.9/100 000 in men, and then fell, with a sharp decline above the age of 80. In the prevalence study, whereas only one serum from individuals aged 60–74 years was positive for AChR antibodies (0.12%), sera from eight individuals aged 75 years were positive (0.7%). Only one had a previous clinical diagnosis of myasthenia gravis but four others had histories of stroke or transient ischaemic attacks.
Conclusions: The sharp fall in the incidence of clinically recognised myasthenia gravis in people over 80 years of age in our national AChR antibody incidence study, and the high prevalence of previously unrecognised positive AChR antibodies in those 75 years old, suggest that myasthenia gravis may be substantially underdiagnosed in older people.
Keywords: myasthenia gravis; elderly; diagnosis
This article has been cited by other articles:
|
|
 |
|
  J. A. AARLI Myasthenia Gravis in the Elderly: Is It Different? Ann. N.Y. Acad. Sci., June 1, 2008; 1132(1): 238 - 243. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 M Hill and Y Ben-Shlomo Neurological care and risk of hospital mortality for patients with myasthenia gravis in England J. Neurol. Neurosurg. Psychiatry, April 1, 2008; 79(4): 421 - 425. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
N. Tsinzerling, A.-K. Lefvert, G. Matell, and R. Pirskanen-Matell Myasthenia gravis: a long term follow-up study of Swedish patients with specific reference to thymic histology J. Neurol. Neurosurg. Psychiatry, October 1, 2007; 78(10): 1109 - 1112. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
X. Zhang, M. Yang, J. Xu, M. Zhang, B. Lang, W. Wang, and A. Vincent Clinical and serological study of myasthenia gravis in HuBei Province, China J. Neurol. Neurosurg. Psychiatry, April 1, 2007; 78(4): 386 - 390. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
J F Owe, A K Daltveit, and N E Gilhus Causes of death among patients with myasthenia gravis in Norway between 1951 and 2001 J. Neurol. Neurosurg. Psychiatry, February 1, 2006; 77(2): 203 - 207. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 F. E. Somnier Increasing incidence of late-onset anti-AChR antibody-seropositive myasthenia gravis Neurology, September 27, 2005; 65(6): 928 - 930. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 B R Thanvi and T C N Lo Update on myasthenia gravis Postgrad. Med. J., December 1, 2004; 80(950): 690 - 700. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
W W Y Wong and R J M Lane Transient myasthenia gravis in an elderly woman J. Neurol. Neurosurg. Psychiatry, September 1, 2004; 75(9): 1363 - 1363. [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
| HOME | HELP | FEEDBACK | SUBSCRIPTIONS | ARCHIVE | SEARCH | TABLE OF CONTENTS | REGISTER |
