A single-blinded trial of methotrexate versus azathioprine as steroid-sparing agents in generalized myasthenia gravis

Table 1 Demographics and baseline characteristics of participants

	Azathioprine	Methotrexate	P value
Patients, n (Females/Males)	15 (9/6)	16 (10/6)	0.45^a
Age (years), mean ± SD	42.7 ± 16.8	47.9 ± 14.8	0.37^b
Weight (kg), mean ± SD	77.1 ± 21.2	76.9 ± 23.0	0.98^b
Type of MG, n (%)			0.83^a
AChR-Ab-positive	9 (60)	10 (62)
Thymoma	2 (13)	3 (19)
AChR-Ab-negative	4 (27)	3 (19)*
Pre-study characteristics
Symptom duration (months), mean ± SD	10.3 ± 10.6	7.5 ± 13.0	0.51^b
Symptom duration (months), median (IQR)	6.0 (1.5; 15.0)	4.8 (2.3; 8.0)
Patients on prednisone pre-study, n (%)	12 (80)	12 (75)	0.74^a
Prednisone duration (months), mean ± SD	1.5 ± 1.8	1.3 ± 1.1	0.63^b
Cumulative prednisone (mg), mean ± SD	1170 ± 1768	1032 ± 1117	0.79^b
MGFA severity at presentation, n
Grade 2a/2b	2/0	2/2
Grade 3a/3b	2/3	1/5
Grade 4a/4b/5	1/6/1	0/4/2
Pre-study P/E or IVIg, n	1	3
Pre-study thymomectomy, n	1 (1 delayed)	2 (1 refused)
Concomitant disease, n
NIDDM	1	1
Hypertension	2	2
Thyroid disease on stable replacement therapy	1	2
Other autoimmune disease**	1	1
Other disease #	3	4

SD- standard deviation; IQR- interquartile range; AChR-Ab-positive - refers to AChR antibody positive non-thymoma MG; *1 patient MuSK-antibody positive.
NIDDM refers to non-insulin dependent diabetes mellitus. Only thymoma-MG patients underwent thymomectomies- see text.
**vitiligo & pernicious anaemia.
^# Other disease refers to asthma, idiopathic seizures (n = 1), peptic ulcer disease (n = 1), obesity with polycystic ovaries (n = 1), hypercholesteremia (n = 1), benign prostatic hypertrophy (n = 1); gluten sensitive enteropathy (n = 1).
^a χ² test. ^b t-test.

ISSN: 1471-2377