Clinical Evaluation of the Serological Tests in Rheumatoid Arthritis: II. Hospital Series of Patients with Definite Rheumatoid Arthritis

Summary and ConclusionsAn analysis was made of the serological findings in a series studied according to uniform clinical and serological criteria. The total material comprised a normal series collected by random sampling (539 cases) and a series of patients with definite rheumatoid arthritis (473 patients) treated at a special hospital. After elimination from the normal series of the cases of definite and probable rheumatoid arthritis (50 cases) the Waaler-Rose test was positive in 1.6 per cent, the bentonite test in 1.4, the latex tube test in 4.1 and the latex slide test in 4.9 per cent. Among the cases of definite rheumatoid arthritis treated in the special hospital (408 cases), 67 per cent gave a positive Waaler-Rose, 44 per cent a positive bentonite and 85 per cent a positive latex tube test.The following conclusions were drawn: Serological tests may be helpful for the early diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis.Concurrent positive results from several different rheumatoid serological tests are stronger evidence of rheumatoid arthritis than a single positive result.The disease picture displayed certain atypical features in several serologically negative cases of rheumatoid arthritis.