Relation between bone erosions and rheumatoid factor IgA and IgM isotypes in recent onset rheumatoid arthritis.

In this prospective study 58 patients with early rheumatoid arthritis were followed up for two years with six-monthly assessments including rheumatoid factors (RF) of IgA and IgM subtypes. Initial and mean serum levels of IgA-RFs were raised in patients with an erosive disease course in comparison to non erosive disease. The cases with initially increased serum levels of RFs of both isotypes developed more eroded joints in their hands and feet during the study period than the rest of the patients. None of the differences, however, were statistically significant. Of the tested parameters only clinical rheumatoid activity (Mallya-index) was significantly related to the number of eroded joints during the follow-up. We conclude that serum IgA-type RFs are raised in erosive RA, but the determination of RFs of any kind cannot be used to prognosticate erosiveness.