Epidemiology of idiopathic inflammatory myopathy in Hungary

Introduction: Idiopathic inflammatory myopathy (called also myositis) is a systemic autoimmune disease mainly characterised with proximal muscle weakness. The most frequent subsets are polymyositis and dermatomyositis. The epidemiology of these diseases is not entirely explored. There is a need to build national and international registries which may help to obtain more data. The Myositis Team at the Department of Clinical Immunology, University of Debrecen, has been established in 1975. Aim: The aim of the authors was to obtain epidemiological data on this disease. Method: The authors analysed the database of the National Health Insurance Fund Administration of Hungary which included 1119 patients with myositis, of which 289 patients were followed up by the authors. Results: The average incidence of the disease was found to be 0.95/100.000/year. The male/female ratio was 1/2. Dermatomyositis occurred both in children and adult, but polymyositis was found mainly in adults. These epidemiological data partly correlate with those published in the international literature. Conclusions: The authors propose to establish a National Myositis Registry in the frame of multicentric collaboration in order to have more information about the disease.