RESEARCH - The occurrence and significance of hand deformities in early RA

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© 1991 British Society for Rheumatology

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THE OCCURRENCE AND SIGNIFICANCE OF HAND DEFORMITIES IN EARLY RHEUMATOID

ARTHRITIS

K. EBERHARDT, P. MALCUS JOHNSON and L. RYDGREN

Department of Rheumatology Lund University Hospital, Sweden

One hundred rheumatoid arthritis patients (38 men, 62 women), with mean age

of 53 years and mean disease duration of 11.5 months, were followed.

Standardized clinical, biochemical, and radiographic evaluation was

performed regularly. After 2 years the prevalence of ulnar deviation,

buttonhole deformity, and swan neck deformity was 13%, 16%, and 8%,

respectively. Altogether, 31 patients had developed one or more deformities.

There was no difference in age or gender distribution and no predominance of

the dominant hand. Each patient with a deformity was matched according to

age, sex, and disease duration with another early RA patient without

deformity. The deformity group had more active disease, less grip strength,

more disability, and markedly more severe radiographic changes. When studied

retrospectively at a time point 3 months prior to the detection of

deformity, synovitis of relevant joints was as common in the group who

developed deformities as in the control group. This suggests that joint

inflammation may contribute to the genesis of deformity but additional

factors are needed. Hand deformities were found to be common in early RA.

http://rheumatology.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/30/3/211

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