The revised criteria for the diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) were presented in 1987. We tested these criteria on 135 women from a population-based study of patients with newly diagnosed RA. None of the 19 women with probable RA and 100 of the 116 women with definite RA met the 1987 criteria. The 1987 criteria appear to be less sensitive or more specific than the criteria formulated in 1956.