Table 2

Clinical description of patients who no longer fitted the criteria for rheumatoid arthritis at two year follow up

Patient No	Age at entry	Sex	Clinical features	Investigations	Diagnosis
19	45	M	Symmetrical polyarthritis	RF^2-150 −ve, nox ray erosions	Transient polyarthritis
24	74	M	Symmetrical polyarthritis	RF −ve, nox ray erosions	Transient polyarthritis
28	31	F	Symmetrical polyarthritis	RF −ve, ANA^2-1501/1280, no x ray erosions	Possible SLE^2-150
35	28	F	Symmetrical polyarthritis	RF +ve, ANA 1/1280, anti-Ro +ve	Probable SLE
			Pleuritic chest pain	Nox ray erosions
42	38	F	Symmetrical polyarthritis	RF +ve, ANA −ve, parvovirus IgG abs +ve	Post-viral arthritis
				No x ray erosions

↵2-150 RF = rheumatoid factor; ANA = antinuclear antibodies; SLE = systemic lupus erythematosus.