Post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms after respiratory insufficiency in patients with myasthenia gravis

ABSTRACT

To explore posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms (PTSD) after respiratory insufficiency in patients with myasthenia gravis (MG). The investigation was made with 134 adult patients with MG, after respiratory insufficiency, between January 2012 and January 2016 and had a return visit after one year. 134 patients finished this study and 69 patients (51.5%) had PTSD. Anxiety (HADS-A ≥ 8, HADS: Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale) (OR 2.585,95% CI 1.102–6.061, p = 0.029), and depression (HADS-D ≥ 8) (OR 3.200, 95% CI 1.395–7.342, p = 0.006) were associated with greater probabilities of screening positive for PTSD. Gender, age, intubation, yearly income, marriage, inability to work, number of respiratory insufficiency episodes, education level, Mini-mental state examination (MMSE) (>20), ICU stays, having insurance, and MG-activities of daily living (ADL) (<9) were not significant predictors for PTSD. One year after a respiratory insufficiency episode, patients with PTSD experienced worse anxiety (p = 0.035), depressive disorder (p < 0.001), and 36-Item Short-Form Health Survey (SF-36) showed physical functioning (p = 0.042), role-physical (p = 0.013), social functioning (p = 0.040), and emotional-role (p = 0.034). But there were no differences in ADL, bodily pain, general health and vitality. PTSD in patients with MG is common after a respiratory insufficiency episode; anxiety and depression were both associated with greater probabilities of screening positive for PTSD.

KEYWORDS:

• Myasthenia gravis (MG)
• post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms (PTSD)
• quality of life (QoL)
• MG-activities of daily living (ADL)
• respiratory insufficiency

Acknowledgments

We thank Rifeng Jiang for the advice and translation. We also thank all of the patients and families who participated in the study.

Disclosure statement

On behalf of all authors, the corresponding author states that there were no conflicts of interest.