RHEUMATOID-FACTOR AND HLA ANTIGENS IN WRIST TENOSYNOVITIS AND HUMERALEPICONDYLITIS

A matched case-referent study was undertaken to assess whether rheumat oid factor (RF) is associated with repenting tenosynovitis or peritend initis and whether HLA-B27 predisposes to epicondylitis. The study sub jects consisted of 25 workers in manually strenuous jobs with a histor y of at least two episodes of tenosynovitis or peritendinitis in the w rist or forearm, or humeral epicondylitis, and their matched referents . The latex agglutination lest was positive in seven of the 23 cases w ith tenosynovitis and in one of the referents (p = 0.03). The correspo nding figures for IgM-RF by enzyme immunoassay were ten and two, respe ctively (p = 0.008). HLA-B27 antigen was found in five of the 13 worke rs with epicondylitis and in one worker with no such history (p = 0.13 ). It is possible that RF-positive repeating tenosynovitis represents an incomplete form of rheumatoid disease.