Demographic and clinical characteristics of cytomegalovirus reactivation in dermatomyositis

Dermatomyositis (DM) patients are known to have various infectious complications, such as cytomegalovirus (CMV) reactivation, due to immune dysfunction caused by DM itself and immunosuppressants used for treatment. Although CMV reactivation has been known to be a major cause of mortality in immunocompromised hosts, there has not been sufficient study of CMV reactivation in DM patients. The objective of this study was to examine the frequency of CMV reactivation in DM patients and to investigate risk factors potentially associated with development of CMV reactivation. We analyzed 52 Japanese DM patients, and CMV reactivation was observed in 21 (40.4%). The mean duration from the initiation of prednisolone (PSL) to the diagnosis of CMV reactivation was 6.1 ± 0.5 weeks. The total amount of oral PSL before the diagnosis of CMV reactivation was 2000.3 ± 169.3 mg. Using a univariate analysis, we found that the prevalence of interstitial lung disease and the frequency of diabetes mellitus complications in DM patients with CMV reactivation was significantly higher than that in DM patients without CMV. We identified that low lymphocytes (