Kvien T K, Uhlig T
Oslo City Department of Rheumatology, Diakonhjemmet Hospital, Oslo, Norway.
Clin Exp Rheumatol. 2003 Sep-Oct;21(5 Suppl 31):S118-22.
The Oslo experience with early rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is based on studies performed within the setting of a register of RA patients and of the longitudinal follow-up of patients with early RA. This article discusses some relevant issues for research on early arthritis: whether the current RA classification criteria are appropriate, the shift in incidence toward elderly patients, and the heterogeneity of the disease. Our data clearly show that 3 of the items of the classification criteria are infrequently fulfilled early in the disease and that RA most frequently starts after the age of 60. Our data also suggest that disease onset may be defined either as symptom onset or as when the classification criteria are fulfilled. The choice between these 2 options does not seem to influence the longitudinal results.
奥斯陆关于早期类风湿关节炎（RA）的经验基于在RA患者登记册背景下开展的研究以及对早期RA患者的纵向随访。本文讨论了早期关节炎研究中的一些相关问题：当前的RA分类标准是否合适、发病率向老年患者的转变以及疾病的异质性。我们的数据清楚地表明，分类标准中的3项在疾病早期很少得到满足，且RA最常始于60岁之后。我们的数据还表明，疾病发作既可以定义为症状出现之时，也可以定义为满足分类标准之时。这两种选择之间的差异似乎不会影响纵向研究结果。
