Increased risk of osteoporosis in patients with myasthenia gravis: a population-based cohort study.

Objective: To determine the risk of osteoporosis in patients with myasthenia gravis (MG) in a large cohort representing 99% of the population of Taiwan.
Methods: Data from the Taiwan National Health Insurance Research Database were used to conduct retrospective cohort analyses. The study cohort consisted of 2,073 patients with MG who were 3-fold frequency-matched by age and sex and assigned the same index year as a comparison cohort without MG. Cox proportional hazard regression analysis was conducted to estimate the risk of osteoporosis.
Results: The MG cohort had a 1.96-fold increased risk of developing osteoporosis compared with the comparison cohort (hazard ratio [HR] = 1.96, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.57-2.44). Patients with MG older than 30 years developed an increased risk of osteoporosis, with the highest risk in the age group from 30 to 44 years, compared with the control cohort. Corticosteroid-naïve patients with MG had a 1.52-fold increased risk of developing osteoporosis (HR = 1.52, 95% CI = 1.11-2.08), and the corticosteroid-treated cohort had a 2.37-fold increased risk of developing osteoporosis (HR = 2.37, 95% CI = 1.82-3.07).
Conclusion: This population-based retrospective cohort study provides evidence that MG is associated with a high risk of osteoporosis regardless of corticosteroid use.
(© 2014 American Academy of Neurology.)