Objective. To analyze various quantitative measures of inflammatory activity and joint damage, including articular, radiographic, laboratory questionnaire, and physical function measures, in regard to changes in status in surviving patients and prediction of mortality in non-survivors over

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Radiographic and physical joint count findings of the hands and wrists of 148 patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) were analyzed in a cross‐sectional study. Quantitative radiographic scores for joint space narrowing, erosion, and malalignment were correlated highly with joint count scores for limitation of motion and deformity, and were correlated at considerably lower levels with joint swelling scores. Radiographic scores, however, were not correlated at all with joint count tenderness scores. That 2 of the most widely used indices of RA disease activity, radiographic erosion scores and joint count scores for tenderness, were independent of one another at a selected timepoint, should be considered in the design of clinical trials and long‐term observation of patients with RA.

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Radiographs of the hands and wrists of 201 patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) were scored for erosion, joint space narrowing, and malalignment. The explanatory power of these findings for measures of clinical status was studied with stepwise multiple linear regression analyses. Radiographic scores explained 59.2% of variation in physical joint count deformity scores, 58.5% of variation in limited motion scores, 22.5% of variation in grip strength scores, 20.5% of variation in button test scores, and 13.5% of variation for the American Rheumatism Association (ARA) Functional Class. Malalignment scores best explained variation in physical deformity, limited motion, and button test scores; joint-space-narrowing scores best explained variation in grip strength; erosion scores best explained variation in ARA Functional Class. When age, duration of disease, erythrocyte sedimentation rate, and rheumatoid factor titer were included in the regression analyses, results were similar to those without these variables. Therefore quantitative scores of specific radiographic findings are in themselves explanatory for measures of clinical status.

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