Heart failure & cardiomyopathiesCohort study
Cardiac disease in patients with inflammatory myopathy
- observational study
Authors' conclusion
Cardiac symptoms, risk factors, and structural abnormalities are prevalent in a substantial proportion of patients with IM. Routine cardiologic assessment, including echocardiography, may be advisable. Further evidence from prospective longitudinal studies is needed to optimize screening algorithms and multidisciplinary management.
Study context
- Population
- Adult IM patients recruited from the rheumatology outpatient clinic at Ludwig-Maximilians-University Hospital between August 2023 and January 2025adult IM patients who completed a questionnaire
- Participants
- 37 patients
- Outcome
- Incidence of cardiomyopathy, documented cardiac arrhythmias, and myocardial infarction following the diagnosis of IM
Main finding
As reported in the abstract
Supraventricular arrhythmias documented
10.8%
Ventricular arrhythmias documented
5.4%
Observational data: associations, not effects.
Further findings
Demographics · last follow-up
- Median age at last follow-up
- 60 years
- Male
- 35.1%
Cardiac symptoms reported by study participants
- Dyspnoea
- 45.9%
- Congestion/oedema
- 40.5%
- Palpitations
- 32.4%
- Chest pain
- 18.9%
Arterial hypertension diagnosed after IM had been established
- Arterial hypertension
- 27%
Echocardiography findings
- Left ventricular diastolic dysfunction
- 35.1%
- Severe valvular disease documented only in isolated cases of IM
- Echocardiography was performed in all study participants
Original publication
Summarised from the published abstract; every number is checked against it