Qiu M, Sun X, Qi X, et al. - Whether GDF-15 has diagnostic worth for myocardial involvement in idiopathic inflammatory myopathy (IIM), was determined in this retrospective analysis of 77 IIM patients. Of these, cardiac magnetic resonance examination was received by 43 patients. A total of 33 SLE patients and 16 healthy people were included. Using ELISA, GDF-15 level in these groups was ascertained. GDF-15 levels differed significantly between patients with IIM, SLE and healthy controls. Following adjustment for age, renal function, there was an increment in the risk of myocardial injury in IIM patients an average of 0.3% by per increased unit of GDF-15. The prediction of myocardial injury in IIM was enabled by GDF-15 ≥ 929.505 pg/ml (area under the curve=0.856) with a sensitivity and specificity of 0.75 and 0.90, respectively. Based on these data, experts concluded the worth of GDF-15 as a likely potential biomarker to predict myocardial injury in IIM patients.