QUANTITATION OF THE ACTIVITY OF RHEUMATOID ARTHRITIS. 2. RECESSION OF MORNING STIFFNESS AS PATIENTS GO INTO REMISSION

Journal/Book: Am. J. Med. Sci. 231 616 1956.. 1956;

Abstract: BY JOHN LANSBURY M.D. PROFESSOR OF CLINICAL MEDICINE From the Department of Medicine Temple University School of Medicine Philadelphia Pennsylvania Summary and Conclusions. 1) Morning stiffness is an almost universal manifestation of active rheumatoid arthritis. 2) Most patients can accurately observe the duration of morning stiffness. 3) Duration of morning stiffness correlates roughly with the maximum 5-minute fall of erythrocytes in the Cutler sedimentation rate but appears to be unrelated to age sex duration of disease and hemoglobin concentration. 4) Three graphic analyses are given which indicate that hours of morning stiffness decline in a regular trend as the patient goes into a remission. 5) Duration of morning stiffness is therefore a valid Index to the general or fibrositic component of rheumatoid activity and so deserves to be routinely recorded as an item in progress notes. ___MH

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