Table 1.
Clinical and demographic characteristics of myositis patients analyzed in the intervention group and control group
| Parameters | Intervention group (n = 27) |
Control group (n = 23) |
p-value |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gender: female/male, n (%) | 22 (81)/5 (19) | 21 (91)/2 (9) | 0.429 |
| Age, years | 56.0 (41.0–68.0) | 58.0 (52.0–65.0) | 0.513 |
| Clinical features | |||
| Disease duration, years | 6.0 (2.0–9.4) | 2.8 (1.4–8.3) | 0.266 |
| IIM subtype, n (%): PM/DM/IMNM | 12 (44)/10 (37)/5 (19) | 10 (44)/11 (48)/2 (8) | 0.064 |
| IIM-associated symptoms, n (%): | |||
| MW/D/SR/MH/ | 27 (100)/5 (19)/2 (7)/1 (4)/ | 23 (100)/7 (30)/4 (17)/3 (13)/ | 1.000/0.319/0.379/0.306/ |
| RP/A/ILD/CI | 3 (11)//1 (4)/9 (33)/4 (15) | 7 (30)//1 (4)/7 (30)/5 (22) | 0.081/1.000/1.000/0.477 |
| MMT-8 total score | 56.0 (48.0–65.0) | 64.0 (55.0–71.0) | 0.024 |
| MITAX | 0.2 (0.1–0.3) | 0.2 (0.1–0.4) | 0.120 |
| MDI extent | 0.1 (0.0–0.1) | 0.1 (0.0–0.1) | 0.355 |
| Laboratory features | |||
| Autoantibodies, n (%): | |||
| ANA/Mi-2/TIF1/MDA5/ | 17 (63)/2 (7)/0 (0)/0 (0)/ | 14 (61)/1 (4)/2 (9)/1 (4)/ | 1.000/1.000/0.186/0.437/ |
| SAE/NXP2/SRP/HMGCR/Jo-1/ | 0 (0)/2 (7)/1 (4)/3 (11)/3 (11)/ | 1 (4)/1 (4)/2 (8)/0 (0)/7 (30)/ | 0.437/1.000/0.574/1.000/0.081/ |
| PM-Scl/snRNP/Ku/Ro | 2 (7)/2 (7)/2 (7)/11 (41) | 2 (9)/0 (0)/0 (0)/8 (35) | 1.000/1.000/1.000/0.497 |
| CRP, mg/L | 3.0 (1.7–4.6) | 4.1 (1.4–8.2) | 0.403 |
| ESR, mm/h | 13.0 (7.0–26.0) | 15.0 (9.0–30.0) | 0.550 |
| CK, μkat/L | 4.0 (1.8–8.9) | 1.3 (0.8–3.9) | 0.005 |
| LD, μkat/L | 4.0 (3.5–4.9) | 3.7 (3.4–4.7) | 0.626 |
| Myoglobin, μg/L | 112.3 (67.0–299.5) | 78.0 (47.6–128.2) | 0.108 |
| Current treatment | |||
| Prednisone equivalent dose, mg/day | 6.0 (1.3–10.0) | 15.0 (5.0–30.0) | 0.021 |
| MTX/CPA/AZA/CSA/ | 10 (37)/0 (0)/7 (26)/4 (15)/ | 7 (30)/1 (4)/2 (9)/2 (9)/ | 0.767/0.460/0.152/0.674/ |
| LEF/MMF/SAS/HQ/TAC/ | 0 (0)/2 (7)/1 (4)/0 (0)/1 (4)/ | 2 (9)/0 (0)/0 (0)/1 (4)/0 (0)/ | 0.207/0.493/1.000/1.000/1.000/ |
| RTX/IVIg, n (%) | 0 (0)/0 (0) | 0 (0)/0 (0) | 1.000/1.000 |
Acronyms: Data are presented as median (inter-quartile range) unless stated otherwise. Statistically significant differences (p < 0.05) are marked in bold
IIM idiopathic inflammatory myopathy, PM polymyositis, DM dermatomyositis, IMNM immune-mediated necrotizing myopathy, MW muscle weakness, D dysphagia, SR skin rash, MH mechanic’s hands, RP Raynaud’s phenomenon, A arthritis, ILD interstitial lung disease, CI cardiac involvement, MMT-8 Manual Muscle Testing of eight muscles, MITAX Myositis Intention to Treat Activity Index, MDI Myositis Damage Index, ANA antinuclear antibodies, Mi-2 antinuclear helicase 218/240 kDa, TIF1 anti-TIF1 (transcription intermediary factor-1), MDA5 anti-CADM-140 (melanoma differentiation-associated gene 5), SAE anti-SUMO1 (small ubiquitin-like modifier 1) activating enzyme, NXP2 anti-NXP2 (nuclear matrix protein), SRP anti-signal recognition particles, HMGCR anti-3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-CoA reductase, Jo-1 anti-histidyl-tRNA synthetase, PM-Scl anti-Pm-Scl (anti-core complex 11-16 proteins), snRNP small nuclear ribonucleoprotein, Ku anti-Ku (against the nuclear DNA-dependent protein kinase subunit), Ro anti-Ro (52/60 kDa, against cytoplasmic RNA and associated peptides), CRP C-reactive protein, ESR erythrocyte sedimentation rate, CK creatine kinase, LD lactate dehydrogenase, MTX methotrexate, CPA cyclophosphamide, AZA azathioprine, CSA cyclosporin A, LEF leflunomide, MMF mycophenolate mofetil, SAS sulphasalazine, HQ hydroxychloroquine, TAC tacrolimus, RTX rituximab, IVIg intravenous immunoglobulins