ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Neurol.
Sec. Neuromuscular Disorders and Peripheral Neuropathies
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fneur.2025.1670436
Quality of Life and Social Support as Key Determinants of Anxiety and Depression in Myasthenia Gravis: Evidence from a Chinese Cohort
Provisionally accepted
- The First Affiliated Hospital of Chinese Medicine, Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine, Guangzhou, China
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Background: Myasthenia gravis (MG) is a chronic autoimmune disorder frequently accompanied by anxiety and depression, which aggravate disease burden. Evidence on the relationship between clinical characteristics and psychological symptoms in MG remains inconsistent. Methods:We conducted a cross-sectional study of 93 Chinese MG patients. Clinical and demographic data were collected, and anxiety and depression were assessed using the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS). Associations were examined by correlation, chi-square tests, and logistic regression with false discovery rate (FDR) correction. Multivariable models adjusted for age and sex. ROC curve analyses evaluated the predictive performance of (MG Activities of Daily Living ) MG-ADL, (15-item Myasthenia Gravis Quality of Life scale) MG-QOL-15, and (Social Support Rating Scale) SSRS. Results:Anxiety and depression were present in 30.1% and 35.5% of patients, respectively. In multivariable analysis, reduced quality of life (MG-QOL-15, OR = 0.85, 95% CI: 0.78–0.92, p < 0.001) and insufficient social support (SSRS, OR = 1.08, 95% CI: 1.00–1.16, p = 0.03) independently predicted psychological distress, whereas MGFA classification was not significant. Supplementary linear regression confirmed these findings. ROC analysis showed MG-QOL-15 had the best performance in detecting both anxiety (AUC = 0.884) and depression (AUC = 0.837), while SSRS had moderate value and MG-ADL limited discrimination. Conclusion:Psychological distress in MG is more closely linked to quality of life and social support than to conventional disease severity. Routine psychological screening with MG-QOL-15 and SSRS may facilitate early identification of high-risk patients.
Keywords: Myasthenia Gravis, Anxiety, Depression, Disease Severity, Quality of Life, Socialsupport
Received: 21 Jul 2025; Accepted: 16 Oct 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Li, Li, Zhang, Li, Liang, Zhang, Liu, Lin and Qilong. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Jiang Qilong, jiangqilong5119@gzucm.edu.cn
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