Myalgia, myopathy and myositis are the most important types of muscle impairment in
immune-mediated inflammatory arthropathies and connective tissue diseases. Multiple
pathogenetic and histological changes occur in the striated muscles of these patients.
Clinically, the most important muscle involvement is the one that causes complaints
to the patients. In everyday practice, insidious symptoms present a serious problem
for the clinician; in many cases, it is difficult to decide when and how to treat
the muscle symptoms that are often present only subclinically. In this work, authors
review the international literature on the types of muscle problems in autoimmune
diseases. In scleroderma histopathological picture of muscle shows a very heterogeneous
picture, necrosis and atrophy are common. In rheumatoid arthritis and systemic lupus
erythematosus, myopathy is a much less defined concept, further studies are needed
to describe it. According to our view, overlap myositis should be recognized as a
separate entity, preferably with distinct histological and serological characteristics.
More studies are needed to describe muscle impairment in autoimmune diseases which
may help to explore this topic more in depth and be of clinical use.
