Relationship of progression of radiographic changes in hands and wrists, clinical features and HLA-DR antigens in rheumatoid arthritis

Abstract

One hundred and twelve hospital based outpatients with rheumatoid arthritis (mean duration ± standard error, 10.7 ± 0.9 years) were studied for radiological progression of the hands and wrists over a mean period of 26.5 ± 0.5 months. The majority were taking slow acting antirheumatic drugs (SAARD). The rate of radiographic progression was positively and independently associated with the female sex (p<0.01), erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR, p<0.05) and HLA-DR1 (p<0.05). There was a negative association with HLA-DR4 (p<0.05) but this was no longer significant after adjusting for ESR. There was no relationship between the rate of radiological progression and the presence of rheumatoid facto..