van Steenbergen reported the EULAR (European League Against Rheumatism) criteria for arthralgia at risk for rheumatoid arthritis (RA).
Patient selection: arthralgia without arthritis
Exclusion: other explanation for arthralgia
Outcome: progression to rheumatoid arthritis
Criteria:
(1) joint symptoms of recent onset (with duration less than 1 year)
(2) symptoms located in the metacarpophalangeal (MCP) joints
(3) duration of morning stiffness >= 60 minutes
(4) most severe symptoms present in the early morning
(5) presence of a first-degree relative with rheumatoid arthritis
(6) difficulty with making a fist
(7) positive squeeze test of the MCP joints
The highest Youden score (0.64, sensitivity 90%, specificity 74%) was with >= 3 findings.
The presence of 5 or more findings was 100% specific.
Performance:
• The area under the ROC curve was 0.92.
