Rheumatoid arthritis and antecedent tonsillectomy.

The association of antecedent tonsillectomy (T) and subsequent development of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) was investigated in a population of 405 patients with RA and 223 controls with low back syndrome (LBS) or osteoarthritis (OA). A similar matched pair analysis of 113 RA patients and 113 community controls was also conducted. All patients were matched for age and sex. All groups were similar in demographic characteristics. T(+) and T(-) RA patients were similar in severity and disease characteristic parameters. No differences were found in the frequency of tonsillectomy in either of the RA or control groups. These data suggest that antecedent tonsillectomy is not causally related to the development of RA.