Reiter's syndrome versus seronegative rheumatoid arthritis.

Because of our longitudinal studies of early rheumatoid arthritis (RA) in young adults'06'210211 we have been asked to compare the findings in males with Reiter's syndrome (RS) with those in patients with seronegative RA or arthritis of unknown diagnosis. Patients and methods We present the results of a preliminary analysis of the cases of 38 younger males first diagnosed as having arthritis between the ages of 15 and 44 years, including 21 with RS and four with seronegative RA. At entry to the study and within six months of the first diagnosis211 all the patients had negative tests for IgM rheumatoid factor by latex2w and sheep cell agglutination. Most were HLA-typed by the microlymphocytotoxicity method using 55 antisera with 25 specificities.234 The findings presented here Table 1 Selected clinical features found at initial examination of38 younger men with Reiter's syndrome (RS), rheumatoid arthritis (RA), or arthritis of unknown diagnosis (AUD), grouped by last diagnosis Selected features Reiter's syndrome Com-Incom-Total RA AUD plete plete (n=21) (n=4) (n=13) (n=6) (n=15)