Rheumatoid factors in an acute psychiatric population.

The existence of agglutinating substances reactive with autologous and isologous human gamma globulin (yG) has been recognized for some time. These substances were first found in patients with rheumatoid arthritis and were consequently termed "rheumatoid factor" (RF). It is now clear that rheumatoid factor is not specific for rheumatoid arthritis, but occurs in individuals with a wide variety of other diseases characterized by inflammation, infection, and/or granulomatous formation. Hepatitis, primary biliary cirrhosis, leprosy, syphilis, and subacute bacterial endocarditis are but a few of the other diseases unrelated to rheumatoid arthritis in which some degree ofRF activity has been observed. RF has been detected in a high proportion of aged individuals, and is known to occur occasionally in healthy younger persons. Experimentally, rheumatoid-like factor has been induced in rabbits after repeated immunization with various antigens. Since rheumatoid factors derived from various human sources share the ability to react with some form of yG immunoglobulin, they have been sometimes referred to as "anti-yG factors". As part of a survey of the presence of rheumatoid factor in various populations, it was decided to examine patients newly admitted to an acute psychiatric voluntary hospital who were free of coexisting physical illness, known to be associated with RF, and who had not been subjected to long periods of institutional confinement just before testing. This study was originally prompted by the casual observation of transient RF activity in a patient during a period of severe depressive psychosis.