抄録
Approximately 1, 500 randomized patients with rheumatoid arthritis were given a questionnaire asking if they had had low back pain. The questionnaire comprised nine question items, including the presence of low back pain, its occurrence, associated neurological symptoms, age at initial onset, severity of pain, and type of treatment, if any. Responses for each item were classified by sex, age, stage and class of ARA criteria and duration of the disease. A separate notation was made indicating if oral corticosteroids were being taken.
The questionnaire was satisfactorily completed by 1, 115 patients. Six hundred and sixty patients (59%) had experienced low back pain, while 295 patients (45%) realized the cause of the symptom. Association of neurological disturbances was found in 264 cases (40%) . Initial onset of low back pain was 46.8 years old on average. In 372 patients (65%) the pain disappeared within a few days; in 161 patients (35%) painful episodes occurred often; and in 507 patients (87%) severity of pain was not severe or intolerable. No significant correlation was observed between the presence of low back pain and the severity of the disease.
