The data serve as a basis of comparison for later cohort studies.

No abstract

The effects of 10 ml of evening primrose oil or olive oil, administered twice daily for 12 weeks, on clinical and laboratory signs and on plasma prostaglandins were studied in 18 patients with rheumatoid arthritis. The plasma concentration of PGE2 decreased and that of TxB2 increased in both treatment groups, but no significant improvement could be seen in either group.

The aim of the study was to investigate the long-term outcome of non-specific seronegative oligoarthritis in adults. The study included 64 adult patients with recent (<6 months) seronegative oligoarthritis (rheumatoid factor negative, number of swollen joints 1-4 during the first 6 months). Follow-up examinations were carried out at onset and at 1, 3 and 8 years from entry. A total of 47 patients attended the 23-year follow-up. The endpoint outcome was good. Seven had mild erosions in the hands or feet. Only one patient with HLA-B27 developed bilateral sacroiliitis. Three patients had retired from work because of joint disease. The functional outcome of the patients analysed by HAQ was very good after 23 years: 0 in 33 and 0.1-0.9 in 12 of the 47 patients. Reclassification revealed a certain heterogeneity: one case each of rheumatoid arthritis, SLE and ankylosing spondylitis, two cases of post-traumatic arthritis, four of osteoarthrosis, and six of possible reactive arthritis. Out of the remaining 49 patients 15 were HLA-B27 positive and 16 had at least one of the psoriasis-related HLA antigens (HLA-B13, 17, w16). In conclusion, our 23-year prospective follow-up study of patients with seronegative oligoarthritis confirms their favourable outcome. The reason is that the endpoint diagnoses seemed to be similar to those of mild spondylarthropathies.