A four year follow‐up of suspected rheumatoid arthritis: The Tecumseh, Michigan, community health study

Abstract

Abstract Of 563 individuals suspected of having rheumatoid arthritis when examined in 1959‐1960, only 402, or 71.4 per cent, participated in the Tecumseh, Michigan, Community Health Study of 1962‐1965. Of the 402, when classified by similar criteria, only 107, or 26.6 per cent, maintained their former classification as to degree of certainty of presence of rheumatoid arthritis, while 200, or 49.8 per cent, showed no evidence of the disease. The results illustrate some of the difficulties and uncertainties of prospective studies.