What can I claim secondary to dermatomyositis?
4 conditions in the Repatriation Medical Authority's Statements of Principles list dermatomyositis as a factor. If DVA has accepted your dermatomyositis, each of these has a documented pathway to a further claim.
At a glance
- Accepted conditionDermatomyositis
- Conditions it may open4
- SourceRMA SoPs
- Chart Review$600 + GST
How a secondary claim works
Some Statement of Principles factors are not about service at all — they name another condition. Where DVA has already accepted your dermatomyositis, and another condition's SoP lists dermatomyositis as a factor, that part of the next claim is already established on your file. How a secondary claim works, in full →
Conditions that list dermatomyositis as a factor
Quoted from the instrument. A pathway existing is not the same as a claim succeeding — each factor carries thresholds your record has to satisfy.
Cerebrovascular accident (stroke)
RH No. 45 of 2024 · BoP No. 46 of 2024
Reasonable Hypothesis — factor (10): “having one of the following systemic inflammatory disorders causing cerebral vasculitis at the time of clinical onset: (a) ankylosing spondylitis; (b) dermatomyositis; (c) inclusion body myositis; (d) polymyositis; (e) psoriatic arthritis; (f) rheumatoid arthritis; (g) systemic sclerosis (scleroderma); (h) Sjögren syndrome; or (i) systemic lupus erythematosus” [clinical onset]
Balance of Probabilities — factor (10): “having one of the following systemic inflammatory disorders causing cerebral vasculitis at the time of clinical onset: (a) ankylosing spondylitis; (b) dermatomyositis; (c) inclusion body myositis; (d) polymyositis; (e) psoriatic arthritis; (f) rheumatoid arthritis; (g) systemic sclerosis (scleroderma); (h) Sjögren syndrome; or (i) systemic lupus erythematosus” [clinical onset]
Ischaemic heart disease
RH No. 27 of 2025 · BoP No. 28 of 2025
Reasonable Hypothesis — factor (25): “having one of the following systemic inflammatory rheumatological diseases at the time of clinical onset or clinical worsening: (a) ankylosing spondylitis; (b) dermatomyositis; (c) inflammatory bowel disease; (d) polymyositis; (e) psoriasis; (f) psoriatic arthritis; (g) rheumatoid arthritis; (h) Sjögren syndrome; (i) systemic lupus erythematosus; (j) systemic sclerosis” [onset and worsening]
Balance of Probabilities — factor (17): “having one of the following systemic inflammatory rheumatological diseases at the time of clinical onset or clinical worsening: (a) dermatomyositis; (b) polymyositis; (c) psoriasis; (d) psoriatic arthritis; (e) rheumatoid arthritis; (f) Sjögren syndrome; (g) systemic lupus erythematosus; (h) systemic sclerosis” [onset and worsening]
Myocarditis
RH No. 17 of 2024 · BoP No. 18 of 2024
Reasonable Hypothesis — factor (8): “having one of the following systemic inflammatory diseases: (a) antiphospholipid syndrome; (b) coeliac disease; (c) dermatomyositis; (d) Graves disease; (e) Hashimoto disease; (f) IgG4-related disease; (g) inflammatory bowel disease; (h) mixed connective tissue disease; (i) polymyositis; (j) psoriatic arthritis; (k) rheumatoid arthritis; (l) scleroderma (progressive systemic sclerosis); (m) Sjögren syndrome; or (n) systemic lupus erythematosus; at the time of clinical onset or clinical worsening” [onset and worsening]
Balance of Probabilities — factor (8): “having one of the following systemic inflammatory diseases: antiphospholipid syndrome; coeliac disease; dermatomyositis; Graves disease; Hashimoto disease; inflammatory bowel disease; polymyositis; rheumatoid arthritis; scleroderma (progressive systemic sclerosis); Sjögren syndrome; or systemic lupus erythematosus; at the time of clinical onset or clinical worsening” [onset and worsening]
Osteoporosis
RH No. 66 of 2024
Reasonable Hypothesis — factor (2): “having one of the following autoimmune diseases for at least the 1 year before clinical onset or clinical worsening; (a) ankylosing spondylitis; (b) dermatomyositis; (c) psoriatic arthritis; (d) rheumatoid arthritis; (e) systemic lupus erythematosus; or (f) systemic sclerosis” [onset and worsening]
This factor appears in the Reasonable Hypothesis instrument only, which applies to operational service.
Other accepted conditions that also open cerebrovascular accident (stroke)
If any of these is also on your file, it reaches some of the same conditions dermatomyositis does.
What DVA means by dermatomyositis
A claim is tested against the definition first. If the diagnosis on your file does not meet this wording, the factors below never get reached — so it is worth checking that what your doctor wrote matches what the instrument requires.
Dermatomyositis, for the purposes of the Statement of Principles, for the purposes of this Statement of Principles, dermatomyositis: (a) means a chronic inflammatory disease characterised by inflammatory skin changes, usually accompanied by progressive and symmetric skeletal muscle weakness; and (b) includes amyopathic dermatomyositis.
Aggravation-only factors. In this instrument, subsections 9(6) to 9(11) apply only to material contribution to, or aggravation of, dermatomyositis where it was already present before or during service. If service caused dermatomyositis outright, those factors are not available to you.
RH No. 70 of 2022 · BoP No. 71 of 2022 · 11 factors
Reviewed by Dr Thomas Perkins
Founding doctor, Veterans Health Centre · former RAAF aviation medical officer · 13 years working exclusively with ADF members and veterans. Full profile →
Dermatomyositis accepted?
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