Adult onset polymyositis-dermatomyositis: Findings from Sudan

ABSTRACT

Polymyositis [PM] and dermatomyositis [DM] are rare inflammatory muscle diseases affecting children and adults. Resulting disability is very variable. To the best of our knowledge no study addressed this problem before in Sudan. The objective of this study is to determine the patterns of presentation of PM/DM in adult Sudanese patients. This is a prospective hospital based descriptive study conducted in Elshaab and Khartoum Teaching Hospitals in Khartoum, Sudan. The study was conducted in the period from July 1997 to January 2007.During this period all patients with PM/DM admitted to these hospitals and fulfilling the criteria for the diagnosis of PM/DM were included in the study. Thirty patients were included in this study. Twenty two were females [73.3%] and 8 were males [22.7%]. Their ages ranged between 15-65 years [mean age 34.8 +/- 14.7 years]. Twenty patients [66.7%] were found to have PM and 10 [33.3%] have DM.. The commonest presentation was proximal muscle weakness in 30 patients [100%], joint pain in 29 patients [96.7%] and muscle pain in 28 patients [93.3%]. Overlap syndrome was found in 3 patients [10%], malignancies in two patients [6.7%] and interstitial lung disease in 1 patient [3.3%]. Muscle enzymes were found to be high on presentation in 28 [93.3%] patients and were normal in 2 [6.7%] patients. The results show that the pattern of presentation of PM/DM in this study does not differ much from disease elsewhere world