Backgrounds of patients and correlations of clinical factors with BDI-II score
| Clinical factors | Patient backgrounds (287 in total) | Correlation (95% CI) | p Value |
| Age (years) | 57.5±17.1 | −0.05 (−0.16 to 0.07) | 0.200 |
| Female* | n=193 | 0.19 (0.07 to 0.30) | 0.001† |
| Time since onset (years) | 8.9±8.3 | −0.08 (−0.19 to 0.04) | 0.10 |
| Age at onset (years) | 48.0±18.6 | −0.01 (−0.13 to 0.10) | 0.41 |
| Thymectomy* | n=141 | 0.02 (−0.10 to 0.13) | 0.39 |
| Thymoma* | n=63 | 0.06 (−0.05 to 0.18) | 0.15 |
| QMG | 7.0±5.1 | 0.33 (0.22 to 0.43) | <0.0001† |
| Ocular QMG | 1.7±1.8 | 0.29 (0.17 to 0.39) | <0.0001† |
| Bulbar QMG | 0.3±0.8 | 0.14 (0.02 to 0.25) | 0.01† |
| MG composite | 5.8±5.7 | 0.40 (0.30 to 0.50) | <0.0001† |
| MG-ADL | 3.4±3.1 | 0.39 (0.29 to 0.49) | <0.0001† |
| MGFA classification (worst)* | I/II/III/IV/V: 68/125/60/12/22 | 0.17 (0.05 to 0.28) | 0.002† |
| Current dose of PSL (mg/day) | 4.6±5.9 | 0.33 (0.22 to 0.43) | <0.0001† |
| Maximum dose of PSL (mg/day) | 20.5±20.7 | 0.02 (−0.09 to 0.14) | 0.34 |
| Calcineurin inhibitors* | n=115 | 0.07 (−0.04 to 0.19) | 0.10 |
| Crisis* | n=22 | 0.02 (−0.10 to 0.14) | 0.38 |
| AChR-Ab positivity* | n=232 | −0.14 (−0.25 to −0.02) | 0.01† |
| Kv 1.4-Ab positivity* | n=37 | 0.05 (−0.08 to 0.18) | 0.22 |
| Titin-Ab positivity* | n=53 | 0.09 (−0.07 to 0.26) | 0.10 |
| MuSK-Ab positivity* | n=2 (of 55 AChR Ab-negative patients) | Not determined | Not determined |
| CSR* | n=21 | −0.10 (−0.22 to 0.01) | 0.04† |
| PR* | n=22 | −0.09 (−0.20 to 0.03) | 0.08 |
| MM* | n=95 | −0.17 (−0.28 to −0.06) | 0.002† |
| I* | n=91 | 0.12 (0.01 to 0.23) | 0.02† |
| U* | n=54 | 0.13 (0.02 to 0.24) | 0.01† |
| W* | n=4 | 0.03 (−0.08 to 0.15) | 0.28 |
↵* Pearson's correlation or Spearman's rank correlation.
↵† Variables entered into multivariate regression analysis (see the Results section in the text).
AChR-Ab, antibodies against acetylcholine receptor; BDI-II, Beck Depression Inventory–Second Edition; CSR, complete stable remission; I, improved; Kv1.4, voltage-gated potassium channel 1.4; MG, myasthenia gravis; MG-ADL, MG activities of daily living scale; MG composite, MG composite scale; MGFA, Myasthenia Gravis Foundation of America; MM, minimal manifestations; MuSK, muscle-specific tyrosine kinase; PR, pharmacologic remission; PSL, prednisolone; QMG, MGFA quantitative MG score; U, unchanged; W, worse.