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Journal List > Ann Rheum Dis > v.60(11); Nov 2001

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Ann Rheum Dis. 2001 November; 60(11): 1021–1024.
doi: 10.1136/ard.60.11.1021.
PMCID: PMC1753411
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Presenting features of polymyalgia rheumatica (PMR) and rheumatoid arthritis with PMR-like onset: a prospective study
R Caporali, C Montecucco, O Epis, F Bobbio-Pallavicin..., T Maio, and M Cimmino
Cattedra di Reumatologia, Università di Pavia, Pavia, Italy. Email: caporali/at/smatteo.pv.it
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Abstract
OBJECTIVE—To evaluate in a prospective study whether patients with polymyalgia rheumatica (PMR) and patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) with PMR-like onset show distinctive clinical and laboratory features.
METHODS—A cohort of 116 consecutive patients with bilateral girdle pain for at least one month and raised erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) was studied and followed up for 12 months. Laboratory tests included determination of ESR, IgM rheumatoid factor, haemoglobin, white blood cell count, platelet count, percentage of CD8 lymphocytes, serum aspartate aminotransferase, alanine aminotransferase, alkaline phosphatase, and glutamyltransferase concentrations.
RESULTS—At first examination, RA was diagnosed in 22/116 (19%) patients and PMR in 94 (81%) patients. During the follow up period, 19 additional patients developed RA, and the diagnosis of PMR was confirmed in 65 (56%) patients at the end of the study. Of the clinical and laboratory features, only the presence of peripheral synovitis could differentiate patients who will develop RA from those with "true" PMR, but the positive predictive value of this feature was poor.
CONCLUSION—At present, there are no clinical or routine laboratory features allowing early differentiation between PMR and RA with PMR-like onset.

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Selected References
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Figures and Tables
Figure 1
Figure 1
Figure 1  
Diagnostic tree of the course of the disease in patients presenting with polymyalgia rheumatica (PMR)-like features, during 12 months of follow up. RA, Rheumatoid arthritis; PMR, polymyalgia, rheumatica. Three patients with cancer and three with (more ...)
Figure 2
Figure 2
Figure 2  
Kaplan-Meier curve showing the percentage of patients presenting with polymyalgia rheumatica (PMR)-like features (n = 116) whose diagnosis remained PMR during a one year follow up. *Number of patients with a new diagnosis of rheumatoid (more ...)
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