Clinico-laboratory characteristics of patients with dermatomyositis accompanied by rapidly progressive interstitial lung disease

The clinico-laboratory features of 16 patients with dermatomyositis (DM) we re compared between patients with accompanying rapidly progressive intersti tial lung disease (RP-TLD, n = 7) and those with chronic interstitial lung disease (C-ILD, n = 9), and also between deceased (seven RP-ILD and three C -ILD) and living patients (six C-ILD). The extent of muscle weakness of the extremities and frequency of autoantibody positivity were significantly lo wer in DM patients with RP-ILD than in DM patients with C-ILD. Furthermore, significantly lower serum ceatine kinase/lactate dehydrogenase levels (0.2 6+/-0.27) were found in the 10 patients who died than in the six living pat ients (1.21+/-1.09). A higher CD4+/CD8+ T-lymphocyte ratio in the periphera l blood (3.51+/-2.65) was detected in the four DM patients with RP-ILD who died than in the six living DM patients with C-ILD (1.22+/-0.49).