Mortality of Chinese patients with polymyositis and dermatomyositis.

Mortality of PM/DM patients in China is substantial, especially in females, and those with ILD, malignancy or infection. Infection was the leading cause of death. Patients with older age at onset, infection, ILD, and malignancy need to be paid more attention. Key Points • This is the first comprehensive report about the mortality situation with a large population in PM/DM patients in China including SMR, YLL, and cause of death, Kaplan-Meier survival analysis and Cox regression analysis for mortality risk factors. • The specific SMRs for PM/DM patients with malignancy and interstitial lung disease were also reported in this study. To our knowledge, only two studies worldwide reported SMRs in PM/DM patients and no figure about YLL was reported so far. • Overall, the mortality figures in this study were higher than those from the western countries, and the leading cause of death was different from the western countries.