Ciprofibrate-induced polymyositis

All lipid-lowering agents can cause adverse effects of variable severity, of which some involve the muscles, A case of severe rhabdomyolysis in a 54-year-old woman with chronic renal failure who had started ciprofibrate two weeks earlier is reported. She became unable to move and her serum CPK levels increased more than ten-fold. The outcome was favorable. Unusual features were significant titers of antinuclear antibody, presence of histologic muscle changes consistent with polymyositis, and the worsening effect of the preexisting renal failure. Ciprofibrate, a lipid-lowering agent of the fibrate family, is rarely used in France.