Adult onset polymyositis/dermatomyositis: An analysis of clinical and laboratory features and survival in 76 patients with a review of the literature

Pattern of Adult Onset of Polymyositis and Dermatomyositis and Association with Malignancy

“…The mean age and sex ratio of patients in this series is similar to other reports [2,11,12,18]. The proportion of patients with primary dermatomyositis (13.6%) is less than that observed by Hochberg et al (28%) [11], Hoffman et al (22%) [12] or Ramirez et al (68%) [18].…”

“…The proportion of patients with primary dermatomyositis (13.6%) is less than that observed by Hochberg et al (28%) [11], Hoffman et al (22%) [12] or Ramirez et al (68%) [18]. This may reflect racial differences as patients in these series were Caucasian while most of our patients were non-Caucasian.…”

“…Distribution of cases among various subgroups and severity of the disease vary among different series. Different referral patterns have been cited as a possible explanation [11,12].…”

Cardiac Involvement in Adult Polymyositis or Dermatomyositis: A Systematic Review

“…2,4,7 The most frequently reported clinically manifest cardiac involvement is heart failure (dyspnea on exertion, orthopnea, nocturnal dyspnea), observed in between 32% and 77% of PM/DM patients. 3,7,8,14 Other clinical symptoms such as palpitation, shortness of breath, nonproductive cough, angina pectoris, chest pain, dizziness, and syncope were also described. Physical examination signs included increased jugular venous distention, muffled heart sounds, rales, wheezing, and rhonchi heard at the lung bases and peripheral edema.…”

“…4,8,9,13,15 The incidence of ECG abnormalities from selected articles is from 25% to 85%. 2,3,7,13,16,17 ECG and Holter abnormalities observed in PM/DM patients include: frequent atrial or ventricular premature beats, atrial tachycardia, ventricular tachycardia, atrial fibrillation, atrioventricular conduction block, bundle branch block, abnormal Q-waves, as well as nonspecific ST-T-wave changes. ST-T changes and conduction defects are the most frequent, and the occurrences are 12.5% to 56.7% and 25% to 38.5%, respectively.…”