Table 3.

Secondary outcomes at 5 years and earlier time points

	Treatment Group		Estimated Difference (95% CI)	P Value
	Prednisone Alone	Thymectomy +prednisone
Time-weighted average prescribed AD prednisone dose (mg)a	49.0 ± 29.2 (N=33)	25.9 ± 20.7 (N=35)	23.1 (10.9 to 35.2)	0.0003
Penalized time-weighted average AD prednisone dose (mg; Method 1)a,b	66.2 ± 36.7 (N=33)	31.0 ± 31.8 (N=35)	35.2 (18.6 to 51.9)	< 0.0001
Penalized time-weighted AD average prednisone dose (mg; Method 2)a,c	60.6 ± 34.6 (N=33)	28.3 ± 27.9 (N=35)	32.3 (17.2 to 47.5)	< 0.0001
Time-weighted average MG Activities of Daily Living month 0–60a,d	3.26 ± 2.77 (N=32)	1.61 ± 1.46 (N=34)	1.65 (0.54 to 2.75)	0.0044
at month 48	2.55 ± 3.02 (N=29)	1.10 ± 1.51 (N=31)	1.45 (0.20 to 2.71)	0.0245
at month 60	2.04 ± 2.63 (N=24)	1.23 ± 1.75 (N=26)	0.81 (−0.48 to 2.07)	0.21
Azathioprine usef	19/33 (58)	7/35 (20)	37.6% (16.1% to 59.0%)	0.0014
Plasma exchange usef	4/33 (12)	5/35 (14)	−2% (−18.2% to 13.9%)	0.73
Intravenous immunoglobulin usef	11/33 (33)	3/35 (9)	24.8% (6.2% to 43.3%)	0.0162
Minimal Manifestation Statuse
at month 48f	15/29 (52)	23/31 (74)	−22.5% (−46.3% to 1.4%)	0.07
at month 60f	14/24 (58)	23/26 (88)	−30.1% (−53.4% to 6.9%)	0.0216
MG-QOL15g
at month 39	13.1 ± 14.0 (N=32)	4.8 ± 9.2 (N=33)		0.0029
at month 48	9.0 ± 10.1 (N=29)	4.9 ± 7.9 (N=30)		0.13
at month 60	7.7 ± 9.24 (N=24)	7.8 ± 10.9 (N=26)		0.96

Data are n (%) or mean (SD)

^aP value based on two sample t-test.

^bMethod 1: penalized using maximum dose before azathioprine.

^cMethod 2: penalized using dose at time of starting azathioprine.

^dMyasthenia Gravis Activities of Daily Living scores 0,1, 2, 3, where 0=normal and higher score is worse.

^eP value=0.03 based on the Cox model on modeling time to first Minimal Manifestation Status over the period of 0–60 months.

^fP values based on logistic regression.

^gP values based on Wilcoxon 2-sample test.

AD denotes alternate day, ADL Activities of Daily Living, MG myasthenia gravis.