Prospective evaluation of clinical profile and treatment outcome of patients presenting with polyarthritis diagnosed as rheumatoid arthritis

Introduction: Polyarthritis is a common presentation of patients attending medicine outpatient department. Among various causes Rheumatoid arthritis is the commonest and a well established case has distinct characteristic features. However the early presentation of this disease has not been clear thus leading to delay in treatment. The objectives of this study was to identify the various causes of polyarthritis in our clinical practice, discuss the varied clinical presentation of rheumatoid arthritis including early Rheumatoid arthritis and to evaluate the treatment response during one year follow up.