RHEUMATOID-ARTHRITIS IN THE NORTHEASTERN AREA OF THE PEOPLES-REPUBLIC-OF-CHINA AND WESTERN JAPAN

The clinical features of 134 consecutive hospitalized patients with rh eumatoid arthritis in the northeastern area of the People's Republic o f China and 251 consecutive hospitalized patients from western Japan w ere compared, A total of 91.8% of the Chinese patients were of Han nat ionality, while all of the patients from Japan were Japanese. The pati ents in the People's Republic of China showed more inflammatory articu lar disease and more frequent subcutaneous nodules than did the Japane se patients in the presence of a less elevated ESR value and less radi ographic joint destruction. The clinical features of the patients of H an nationality and the Japanese did not change even after adjusting th e patients' age and disease duration. The reasons for the contradictor y features in the Chinese patients still remain to be clarified, This study is hopefully a first step in promoting more precise studies on r heumatoid arthritis in the People's Republic of China.