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Is Statin-Induced Myositis Part of the Polymyositis Disease Spectrum?

  • Inflammatory Muscle Disease (RG Cooper, Section Editor)
  • Published:
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Abstract

Statin medications have recently been shown to cause not only a toxic myopathy but also an immune-mediated necrotizing myositis. Before the discovery of a specific anti-HMG-CoA reductase antibody occurring in conjunction with a necrotizing myopathy, many of these patients may have been classified as polymyositis. They present similarly with proximal muscle weakness, elevated muscle enzymes, persistence of symptoms despite cessation of the statin, with need for immunosuppression. This article provides an overview of this novel disease entity by placing it in the context of existing idiopathic inflammatory myopathy (IIM) classification criteria, and in the range of statin-associated muscle toxicity.

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Conflict of Interest

Jemima Albayda declares that she has no conflict of interest. Andrew L. Mammen reports grants from NIH during the conduct of the study. In addition, Dr Mammen has patented an anti-HMGCR antibody test from which he is entitled to receive royalties from INOVA Diagnostics.

Human and Animal Rights and Informed Consent

This article does not contain any studies with human or animal subjects performed by any of the authors.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA

    Jemima Albayda & Andrew L. Mammen

  2. Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center, Johns Hopkins Myositis Center, Mason F. Lord Building Center Tower, Suite 4100, Baltimore, MD, 21224, USA

    Andrew L. Mammen

Authors
  1. Jemima Albayda
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  2. Andrew L. Mammen
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Correspondence to Andrew L. Mammen.

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Topical Collection on Inflammatory Muscle Disease

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Albayda, J., Mammen, A.L. Is Statin-Induced Myositis Part of the Polymyositis Disease Spectrum?. Curr Rheumatol Rep 16, 433 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11926-014-0433-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11926-014-0433-8

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