Clinical characterization of patients with inflammatory myopathy in 2 tertiary care hospitals in Colombia: A descriptive survey

Background There is little information on inflammatory myopathies in Colombia. The objective was to identify the demographic and clinical characteristics of these patients in two tertiary care hospitals between 2010 and 2015. Materials and methods A descriptive, retrospective survey was carried out, by reviewing medical records and obtaining information on demographic and clinical variables. The qualitative variables were expressed using absolute and relative frequencies, and the quantitative with mean and standard deviation (SD), or median with interquartile ranges (IQR), depending on data distribution. The IBM SPSS 22 statistical package was used. Results A total of 105 patients with a mean age of 50.4 years (SD: 15.1) were included, with 76 (72.4%) women. In total, 50 subjects (48.5%) had a definitive diagnosis. The most common inflammatory myopathy was dermatomyositis (n = 66; 62.9%). The skin was the most commonly affected organ (n=66; 62.9%). Muscle weakness was present in 60 individuals (57.1%). The most frequent alarm sign was swallowing disorder (n = 28; 26.7%). Creatine phosphokinase was higher in polymyositis, with a median of 1800 IU/L (IQR: 365–6157). The most widely used drugs were glucocorticoids (n = 83; 79%). Some patients were refractory to immunosuppressive treatment, mainly in antisynthetase syndrome (n = 5; 35.7%). Five patients (4.8%) died of infections (pneumonia and bacteraemia). Conclusions In this cohort, the most common entity was dermatomyositis, and the most affected organ was the skin. There was a significant presentation of warning signs, refractoriness to immunosuppressive treatment, and lower muscle enzyme values compared to other cohorts. Mortality was mainly due to infectious complications.