Relationship of radiological change to clinical outcome in rheumatoid arthritis.

Ninety-four patients with rheumatoid arthritis, seen within the first year after onset, have been followed prospectively with annual radiographs for a mean 63-1 months. An erosive arthropathy occurred in 72. The severity of the erosive changes showed a significant correlation with eventual clinical outcome. It is possible to predict a favourable outcome in those patients whose erosive changes become static at an early stage in the disease.