Annual Hospital Admissions For Myasthenia Gravis In Hawai'I Compared To Other States

Objective: To determine if hospital admission rates in Hawai‘i differ from those of other Background: Hawai‘i has a small population (1,419,561 people), and Myasthenia Gravis (MG) is a rare disease; prevalence rates have been reported at 14.2 per 100,000 people, or lower. Nonetheless, in a small neurology practice in Hawai‘i, there seemed to be an unusually large number of patients with MG. The question of whether prevalence of MG is higher in Hawai‘i than in other states was investigated. Methods: Prevalence was estimated by determining the number of hospital admissions for MG with and without crisis in the state each year. Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project state inpatient sample databases from 2010 through 2013 were queried for all hospital admissions for myasthenia gravis with and without crisis in every state for which data were available. Using US Census data estimates for state populations, annual MG hospital admission rates per capita for each state were estimated, and compared. Results: The annual MG admission rate per capita varies significantly from state to state. On average across all 4 years, Hawai‘i had fewer admissions per capita than most other states; only Wyoming, Utah, and New Mexico had fewer. In every year examined, Hawai‘i was in the lowest quartile for MG admissions per capita. Conclusions: We conclude that the perception that there are more MG cases in Hawai‘i than would be expected for our population is false. In fact, there appears to be a lower prevalence in Hawai‘i than in most other states. It does remain possible that these inpatient statistics do not accurately reflect MG patients seen in the outpatient setting. Additional investigation into outpatient data would be of value. Disclosure: Dr. Tahara has nothing to disclose. Dr. Beckwith has nothing to disclose. Dr. Li has nothing to disclose. Dr. Ghaffari Rafi has nothing to disclose. Dr. Takhar has nothing to disclose. Dr. Sabugo has nothing to disclose. Dr. Lee has nothing to disclose. Dr. Miles has nothing to disclose.