OBJECTIVES:

Patients with Myasthenia Gravis (MG) experience severe functional impairment. This study assessed the disease burden, treatment landscape and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in patients with MG.

METHODS:

Data were drawn from the Adelphi MG Disease Specific Programme, conducted between March and September 2020 in France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and the UK (EU5) and the United States (US). Physicians completed online patient record forms (PRFs) for their consulting patients, and patients/proxy-caregivers completed the self-completion forms. Data were assessed using descriptive statistics.

RESULTS:

Total, 222 physicians (EU5:144; US:78) completed PRFs for 865 patients (EU5:554; US:311) with MG (MG Foundation of America [MGFA] class II-IV; mean age, 53.8 years [EU5]; 54.5 years [US]); 261 patients and 37 proxy-caregivers provided self-completion forms. Most patients were symptomatic at the time of survey: 98% in EU5, 95% in US. General fatigue (67%), weakness of eye muscles (59%), and drooping eyelids (55%), were reported commonly. Total, 69% patients in EU5 and 76% in US had comorbidities; hypertension was the most frequently reported comorbidity in patients from both geographies. Mean time from symptom onset to MG diagnosis was 11.9 months in EU5 and 8.5 months in US. Acetylcholinesterase inhibitors were the most commonly used medication class and pyridostigmine was the most frequently prescribed (EU5, 56%; US, 66%). The HRQoL trends were similar among patients in EU5 and US; patients with severe MG (MGFA IV) reported poorer (MGFA II vs MGFA IV) HRQoL scores (EQ-5D-5L [0.73 vs 0.39], EQ-5D-VAS [70.3 vs 38.2], MG-QoL-15r [11 vs 22]). MG had an impact on patients’ employment/ability to work (13% patients on long-term sick leave due to MG) as well as caregivers’ work productivity (25%) in EU5 and US.

CONCLUSIONS:

MG is associated with high disease burden in EU5 and US, with a negative impact on patients’ lives in the real-world.