To evaluate the significance of heart changes in rheumatoid arthritis, ST-T changes of electrocardiogram in healthy control were studied. It was significantly less frequently observed in the control group than in rheumatoid patient group. HIS report deals with the incidence of electrocardiographic abnormalities in the control group as compared with previously reported incidence of heart changes in rheumatoid patients.1),2) Following results had been confirmed by the author: Among 158 patients with rheumatoid arthritis, depression of ST segment and/or inverted or flat T wave were proved in 20.9 per cent (33 patients), prolonged QT ratio in 7.6, first degree A-V block in 1.3, premature beats (ventricular or supra-ventricular) in 3.8, complete right bundle branch block in 0.6, auricular fibrillation in 0.6, sinus tachycardia in 3.2, and sinus bradycardia in 2.5. Age factors of the disease were not related to the incidence of electrocardiographical abnormalities.ST segment and/or T wave changes were more frequently found in the patients with high serum beta and/or gamma globulin. There were 6 autopsied cases of rheumatoid arthritis. All of them showed anatomical heart lesions. MATERIALS AND METHODSSex and age distributions of 158 patients with rheumatoid arthritis were described elsewhere.1),2) The definition and classification of rheumatoid arthritis followed Steinbrocker and Ropes' criteria.3),4) The control group consisted of 182 healthy persons, 129 males and 53 females, whose ages ranged from 17 to 66 years. One hundred and one were apparently healthy employees of a department store in Tokyo. The blood pressure was not over 150 100 in all of them. Eighty-one were healthy volunteers including physicians, nurses and others. Among them, 102 were over 50 years of age. The average age was 41.64. The control group is not ideally matched for their sex and age distribution to the group of rheumatoid arthritis. But as shown in Table I, age distribution in rheumatoid arthritis and the control group had no significant discrepancy. X2=5.07

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