Loading...
The differential diagnosis of recent-onset monoarthritis is broad and includes early presentation of what eventually is identifiable as chronic inflammatory rheumatic disease (CIRD), such as rheumatoid or psoriatic arthritis. In this 2-year study, Norwegian researchers aimed to identify predictors of CIRD in 347 patients who presented with monoarthritides of shorter than 16 weeks' duration; patients with crystal disease, trauma, osteoarthritis, mechanical joint abnormalities, and septic arthritis were excluded. The knee (49%), ankle (17%), and wrist (14%) were the most frequently affected joints.
During follow-up, 91 patients (26%) developed CIRD: 21 with rheumatoid arthritis, 16 with psoriatic arthritis, and 12 with chronic spondyloarthropa…