Objective: Transient neonatal myasthenia gravis (TNMG) can render a neonate vulnerable to catastrophic respiratory depression. Our aim was to describe the clinical manifestations of TNMG, and to determine when the myasthenic signs become apparent in TNMG.
Methods: We reviewed our own experience of infants who underwent routine inpatient monitoring for TNMG and combined our local data with observations from previous studies.
Results: Only three case series (n = 110) reported both the type and timing of onset of myasthenic signs. Adding local data (n = 37) yielded 147 infants born to women with MG. Fifteen infants (10%) developed signs of TNMG with onset being 1.5 ± 2.6 days (mean ± 3SD) after birth. Feeding difficulties and low tone were the commonest presenting signs, and only 1 of the 147 infants needed intubation for hypoventilation.
Conclusions: TNMG signs were mostly not life-threatening. We suggest only 4 days of routine postnatal observation for infants born to women with MG.
© 2021. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature America, Inc. part of Springer Nature.