. 1988, 31(3):315-324
Frank C. Arnett MD 1,19,* ,Steven M. Edworthy MD 2,19 ,Daniel A. Bloch PhD 3,19 ,Dennis J. Mcshane MD 4,19 ,James F. Fries MD 5,19 ,Norman S. Cooper MD 6,19 ,Louis A. Healey MD 7,19 ,Stephen R. Kaplan MD 8,19 ,Matthew H. Liang MD MPH 9,19 ,Harvinder S. Luthra MD 10,19 ,Thomas A. Medsger Jr MD 11,19 ,Donald M. Mitchell MD 12,19 ,David H. Neustadt MD 13,19 ,Robert S. Pinals MD 14,19 ,Jane G. Schaller MD 15,19 ,John T. Sharp MD 16,19 ,Ronald L. Wilder MD PhD 17,19 andGene G. Hunder MD 18,19
1 Professor of Internal Medicine, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston 2 Fellow of Immunology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA 3 Senior Research Associate of Biostatistics in Immunology, Stanford University School of Medicine 4 Assistant Professor of Immunology, Stanford University School of Medicine 5 James F. Fries, MD: Associate Professor of Medicine, Stanford University School of Medicine 6 Professor of Pathology, New York University School of Medicine, New York, NY 7 Virginia Mason Clinic, Seattle, WA 8 Professor of Medicine, Brown University Program in Medicine, Providence, RI 9 Associate Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 10 Associate Professor of Medicine, Mayo Medical School and Clinic, Rochester, MN 11 Professor of Medicine, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 12 Professor of Medicine, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada 13 Clinical Professor of Medicine, University of Louisville School of Medicine, Louisville, KY 14 Professor of Medicine, UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, Newark, NJ, and The Medical Center at Princeton, Princeton, NJ 15 Professor of Pediatrics, Tufts-New England Medical Center, Boston, MA 16 Staff Physician, Tifton Medical Clinic, Tifton, GA 17 Senior Investigator, National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases 18 Professor of Medicine, Mayo Medical School and Clinic. 19 From the Rheumatoid Arthritis Criteria Subcommittee of the Diagnostic and Therapeutic Criteria Committee of the American Rheumatism Association. * requests to the American Rheumatism Association, 17 Executive Park Drive, NE, Suite 480, Atlanta, GA 30329
> The revised criteria for the classification of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) were formulated from a computerized analysis of 262 contemporary, consecutively studied patients with RA and 262 control subjects with rheumatic diseases other than RA (non-RA). The new criteria are as follows: 1) morning stiffness in and around joints lasting at least 1 hour before maximal improvement; 2) soft tissue swelling (arthritis) of 3 or more joint areas observed by a physician; 3) swelling (arthritis) of the proximal interphalangeal, metacarpophalangeal, or wrist joints; 4) symmetric swelling (arthritis); 5) rheumatoid nodules; 6) the presence of rheumatoid factor; and 7) radiographic erosions and/or periarticular osteopenia in hand and/or wrist joints. Criteria 1 through 4 must have been present for at least 6 weeks. Rheumatoid arthritis is defined by the presence of 4 or more criteria, and no further qualifications (classic, definite, or probable) or list of exclusions are required. In addition, a “classification tree” schema is presented which performs equally as well as the traditional (4 of 7) format. The new criteria demonstrated 91–94% sensitivity and 89% specificity for RA when compared with non-RA rheumatic disease control subjects.