High prevalence of systemic lupus erythematosus in 78 myasthenia gravis patients: a clinical and serologic study.

Objective: The objective of this study was to define the prevalence of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) in patients with myasthenia gravis (MG).

Methods: Seventy-eight MG patients recruited unselectively from Israeli MG database were evaluated by medical history, physical examination and serology (ANA at 1:100 and anti-ds-DNA at 1:10 dilution) for the presence of SLE, which was defined by the presence of four or more American College of Rheumatology diagnostic criteria.

Results: Thirty-one (40%) of our patients were males and 47 (60%) were females.