Etiology and frequency of rhabdomyolysis

Study Objectives. To describe the etiology and characteristics of patients with clinically diagnosed rhabdomyolysis in the United Kingdom General Practice Research Database (GPRD), and to estimate the risk of rhabdomyolysis in general and that associated with lipid-lowering agents in particular. Design. Retrospective analysis. Setting. The GPRD. Patients. A base population of patients aged 20-75 years. Intervention. Patients hospitalized with a computer-recorded code for acute myositis or myoglobinuria, or with "rhabdo" recorded in free text comments were reviewed for evidence of rhabdomyolysis. Lipid-lowering treatment among the base population also was calculated. Measurements and Main Results. We identified 25 patients with rhabdomyolysis among 2.5 million in the base population between 1990 and 1999. Seven cases (28%) occurred after a drug overdose and 5 (20%) after septicemia. Among the 2935 concurrent users of statin and fibrate agents, one developed rhabdomyolysis. Conclusion. Only 25 patients out of 2.5 million were found to have rhabdomyolysis. Of those, only one patient was taking a statin and fibrate concurrently, out of almost 3000 concurrent users. The free-text comments field in the GPRD helped to identify patients with rhabdomyolysis.