Drug-Induced Rheumatic Syndromes
Rheumatic syndromes related to drug therapies have been described for decades. The introduction of many new therapeutic agents in recent years has been accompanied by an increase in such reported associations. By definition, drug-induced syndromes are temporally related to starting a drug, and the symptoms and signs generally regress with its discontinuation. The classic and still most common cases resemble systemic lupus erythematosus or scleroderma. Some newer agents appear related to myositis or vasculitis. The origins of most of these syndromes remain obscure.

Drug-induced rheumatologic syndromes vary from the most commonly described drug-induced systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) to the less well-recognized syndromes of vasculitis and myositis. An escalating number of reports and reviews of drug-induced rheumatologic syndromes have appeared within the past few years, possibly owing to the large number of new and novel pharmaceuticals that are being used in clinical practice. To meet criteria for a drug-induced syndrome, a patient should have exposure to an offending drug, clinical and laboratory evidence for a rheumatologic syndrome without prior evidence of such a disorder, and rapid improvement of symptoms and serologic findings with the discontinuation of the drug.