Significance of the Waaler-Rose Test, Streptococcal Agglutination, and Antistreptolysin Titre in the Prognosis of Rheumatoid Arthritis

432

156

Methods of scoring osseous defects and joint space narrowing in the hands and wrists of patients with definite or classical rheumatoid arthritis were devised. The usefulness of the scores was tested i n a group o f 90 patients who had one or more sets of X-ray films of the hands and wrists 36 months or more after onset of illness. Correlations were found between the extent of radiographic abnormalities or the rate of progression of radiographic changes and the age at onset, hand and wrist deformities, preceding physical signs of inflammation in the joints of the hands and wrists, hand function as measured by fist formation, the early appearance of subcutaneous nodules, and the titer of anti-lgG. Among black patients the extent of elevation of ,,-globulins was associated with roentgenographic changes. The correlations between the scores of radiologic abnormalities and the clinical and laboratory manifestations of rheumatoid arthritis establish the value of the described methods of assessing the roentgenographic changes and indicate the usefulness of these methods in evaluating the effect of therapy in this disease.

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 72%

Methods of scoring the progression of radiologic changes in rheumatoid arthritis. Correlation of radiologic, clinical and laboratory abnormalities

Sharp

Lidsky

Collins

et al. 1971

432

156

“…When large joint swelling scores were compared, there was a significant difference between those who achieved an excellent response and those who only partially responded, but the difference between those who achieved a remission and those who failed to respond was not significant (Table 6). No significant differences among groups were shown by analyses of other factors that have been assigned prognostic significance on the basis of previous studies (15)(16)(17)(18)(19)(20)(21). However, when 9 factors were ranked among the 3 groups for best prognosis, patients who had an excellent response ranked first for 7 of these 9 factors, and, similarly, those patients who failed to respond ranked third for 7 of the 9 (Table 7).…”

Section: Yearsmentioning

confidence: 88%

Clinical responses during gold therapy for rheumatoid arthritis. changes in synovitis, radiologically detectable erosive lesions, serum proteins, and serologic abnormalities

Sharp

Lidsky

Duffy

1982

Gold therapy given to 73 patients with rheumatoid arthritis was associated with remission of synovitis for 3 months or longer in 27 patients and 50% or greater improvement in 20 patients. New joint deformities did not develop in patients who experienced remission, and progression of radiologically detectable erosive changes was prevented. Serum protein and serologic abnormalities were improved in all groups, but patients who had a good response experienced the greatest improvement. No single clinical or laboratory feature in the pretreatment assessment predicted response, but, as a group, the patients with the best response also ranked best for most prognostic indicators.Chrysotherapy favorably affects clinical and laboratory manifestations of rheumatoid arthritis, according to studies that extended up to 2 years (1-7).

“…With increasing knowledge of the clinical, immunologic, and immunogenetic characteristics of the inflammatory arthritis syndromes, the concept of RA has emerged more clearly (12). In cohort studies, the R F test has been positive when first performed in the majority of cases, although a minority of patients have developed seropositivity only later in the disease (13)(14)(15).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

When does rheumatoid disease start?

Palosuo

Raunio

et al. 1985

145

Stored serum specimens collected in connection with a community-oriented epidemiologic study were available from 30 subjects who later developed seropositive rheumatoid arthritis. In 9 of these pre-rheumatoid specimens, the Rose-Waaler test result was positive, and in 16, the latex fixation test was positive. Two-thirds of the samples were positive when the interval between taking the blood specimen and onset of the disease was <4 years, and one-third were positive when the interval was 2 4 years. The occurrence of rheumatoid factor preceded the onset of clinical disease more often in males than in females.Recent discussion on the pathogenesis of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) has focused on the relationships between host genetic factors, immunologically-mediated tissue injury, and an inciting agent (1).The main hurnoral feature seen in RA is rheumatoid factor (RF) with autologous IgG (2,3). The