Clinical characteristics and outcomes of myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein antibody-seropositive optic neuritis in varying age groups: A cohort study in China

Abstract

PURPOSE\nTo investigate the clinical characteristics and outcomes of myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein antibody-seropositive optic neuritis (MOG-ON) in patients with varying ages of onset in China.\n\n\nMETHODS\nPatients displaying symptoms of MOG-ON were recruited from the Neuro-ophthalmology Department in the Chinese People s Liberation Army General Hospital from January 2016 to May 2018. They were assigned to one of three subgroups based on age of onset: pediatric (<18\u202fyears), young (18-46\u202fyears), and middle-aged (>46\u202fyears) MOG-ON.\n\n\nRESULTS\n110 patients (188 eyes) were assessed, including 58 pediatric (52.7%), 34 young (30.9%), and 18 middle-aged (16.4%) patients. Of the pediatric patients, 93.9% had good recovery of visual acuity (≥0.5) compared with 79.7% of young patients and 66.7% of middle-aged patients (p\u202f<\u202f.001). The annual relapse rate was lower in the pediatric group than young and middle-aged groups (0.32\u202f±\u202f0.50 vs 0.73\u202f±\u202f0.87 vs 0.49\u202f±\u202f1.08, p\u202f=\u202f.036). Six children (10.3%) were diagnosed with acute disseminated encephalomyelitis, while seven young patients (20.6%) were diagnosed with aquaporin-4 antibody seronegative neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder upon follow-up. The average peripapillary RNFL and macular GCIPL thicknesses were not statistically different between subgroups (p\u202f=\u202f.996, p\u202f=\u202f.608). Overall, MRIs of the optic nerve showed perineural enhancement in 52.0% of patients and longitudinal extensive involvement in 87.7%. MRIs also revealed a greater proportion of pediatric patients with intracranial optic nerve involvement than in the other two subgroups (45.4% vs. 21.2% vs. 36.7%, p\u202f=\u202f.014).\n\n\nCONCLUSION\nPediatric ON was the most common MOG-ON subgroup. Pediatric patients had different clinical features, including better recovery of visual acuity, lower annual relapse rate, and more intracranial optic nerve involvement than young and middle-aged patients. Additionally, age of onset may be a potential predictor for determining visual prognosis with MOG-ON.