People with myasthenia gravis are at risk for which life-threatening complication?

• A. Respiratory distress
• B. Hypertension
• C. Hyperglycemia
• D. Deep vein thrombosis

Answer: (A)

The main idea is that weakness from myasthenia gravis can involve the muscles required for breathing, so respiratory failure becomes the most dangerous potential complication. Myasthenia gravis is an autoimmune attack on the neuromuscular junction, causing fatigable weakness that worsens with activity. When the diaphragm and intercostal muscles are affected, ventilation can fail, leading to hypoventilation, rising carbon dioxide, low oxygen, and, without rapid support, respiratory arrest. This scenario—progressing shortness of breath, shallow or ineffective breathing, decreased cough effectiveness, and fatigue that limits speaking—signals an impending or actual myasthenic crisis requiring urgent airway management and interventions such as plasmapheresis or IVIG to reduce the antibody load and adjustments to therapy.

Other listed concerns—hypertension, hyperglycemia, and deep vein thrombosis—are important medical issues but do not reflect the immediate, life-threatening risk specific to MG in the same way respiratory failure does.