A retrospective multicenter study was conducted with 70 patients with juvenile dermatopolymyositis. Among survivors with sufficient follow-up (at least two years), a good prognosis subgroup was characterized by significantly better (P less than 0.001) initial response to steroids and less frequent pharyngeal involvement when compared to other patients in a poor prognosis subgroup with significant sequelae or still active disease. Patients who died had more severe pharyngeal involvement than those who survived (P less than 0.05).