A recent study investigated the risk of major osteoporotic fracture in patients with myasthenia gravis (MG) compared to controls using a Korean national claim database. Data from 23,118 adult patients with MG and 115,590 age- and sex-matched controls were analyzed. Patients with MG had a significantly higher risk of major osteoporotic fracture, including vertebral, hip, humerus, and distal radius fractures, compared to controls. Risk factors for patients with MG included older age, female sex, high cumulative steroid dosage, use of immunosuppressive agents, and a history of prior fractures. Despite higher prevalence of comorbidities in patients with MG, the association between MG and fracture risk remained robust even after adjusting for confounding factors. The study underscores the need for better strategies to assess fracture risk in MG patients and highlights the importance of proactive management to mitigate this risk. Only a small proportion of patients with MG underwent DXA screening and received anti-osteoporotic medications, indicating a clinical unmet need in addressing fracture risk in this population.

Reference: Park HS, Kim K, Yu MH, Shin HY, Rhee Y, Kim SW, Hong N. Risk of Fracture in Patients with Myasthenia Gravis: A Nationwide Cohort Study in Korea. J Bone Miner Res. 2024 Mar 12:zjae043. doi: 10.1093/jbmr/zjae043. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 38477782.