Myasthenia Gravis in South Trinidad

Abstract

While many features of MG in South Trinidad were similar to international data, the unique, statistically significant higher prevalence in Africans than East Indians warrants further research, given the paucity of reports from Africa and India. Patients with MG suffered a diminished quality of life, necessitating improved health planning.

Myasthenia gravis at Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso): about 14 cases

“…In our study, we identified 14 cases in 4 years and 10 months between March 2012 and January 2017. We found a female predominance with a ratio F/M 1.3, a predominance in young adults (<50 years), and only two cases each of late MG and juvenile MG (<15 years) were recorded, which is in line with data from the literature [12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20]. Sex hormones appear to play a central role and some studies involve estrogens as the main mediator of the disease [21,22].…”

“…Sex hormones appear to play a central role and some studies involve estrogens as the main mediator of the disease [21,22]. At the beginning, MG is influenced by sex and age in a bimodal way: in women under 40, women predominate, but in the fifth decade cases are equally divided between men and women, and after 50 years, new cases are slightly more frequent in men [7,[16][17][18]22,23]. This characteristic has also been observed in our patients.…”

“…Very broad for some, its indications are selective for others, reserved for thymoma, myasthenia generalized of the young subject or the patient who did not respond favorably to the immusuppressors and the corticoids; this explains the variable proportion of thymectomy from one serie to another. In our series, there was only one patient belonging to the myasthenia subgroup with pure ocular form, whereas El Mahdi (Morocco) [15], Maharaj (Trinidad) [18], Matuja (Tanzania) [40] and Ojini (Nigeria) [41] found 17%, 40%, 47% and 50% ocular form respectively in their series, while Zhang in China had 58% ocular form, whose 75% were children [1]. The proportion of ocular MG varies according to the authors and the populations, it is of 10-15% in the Caucasian populations and goes to more than 50% in Asians, with a clear predilection for the children [42].…”

Profil clinique et paraclinique de la myasthénie auto-immune à Ouagadougou au Burkina Faso

“…Les séries d'ASS, comme la nôtre, avec une moyenne d’âge de début de la maladie entre 25 ans et 32 ans [ 29 , 30 , 34 ], confirment cette tendance à un début plus précoce de la MAI dans les populations noires. La même tendance est observée en Chine [ 35 ], Singapour [ 2 ], Trinidad et Tobago [ 23 ]. Par contre en Iran [ 32 ] et aux Pays-Bas [ 6 ], une moyenne d’âge de début après 40 ans est notée.…”

“…La symptomatologie clinique initiale de la MAI, tous âges confondus, débute habituellement dans 60 à 85% des cas par une atteinte oculaire, dans 15 à 17% des cas par une atteinte de la musculature d'innervation bulbaire ou faciale et dans 10% des cas par un déficit de la musculature axiale ou périphérique [ 8 , 15 , 23 ]. Dans notre série, le même profil clinique révélateur a été observé, cependant à des fréquences plus élevées pour les atteintes bulbaires et des membres, liées à des biais d'imprécisions dans la chronologie de l'histoire de la maladie favorisés par les longs délais diagnostiques dans notre contexte.…”