title: Early undifferentiated connective tissue disease. I. Early clinical manifestation in a large cohort of patients with undifferentiated connective tissue diseases compared with cohorts of well established connective tissue disease.
abstract: We identified a cohort of 410 patients with connective tissue disorders (CTD) of less than or equal to 1 year duration among the participating clinics of the Cooperative Systematic Studies of the Rheumatic Diseases Program. Fifty-seven had rheumatic arthritis (RA), 57 systemic lupus erythematosus, 37 poly/dermatomyositis, 46 scleroderma, and 213 early undifferentiated CTD, including patients with Raynaud's phenomenon, unexplained polyarthritis or at least 3 CTD manifestations such as rashes, myalgias, etc. Baseline clinical data are now being reported. The followup of these patients may prove to be valuable in understanding these diseases. To our knowledge no similar cohort of patients is available for further investigation.
authors.affiliation: Cooperative Systematic Studies of the Rheumatic Diseases Program, University of Utah, Salt Lake City.
authors.forename: G S
authors.initials: GS
authors.lastname: Alarcón
authors.forename: G V
authors.initials: GV
authors.lastname: Williams
authors.forename: J Z
authors.initials: JZ
authors.lastname: Singer
authors.forename: V D
authors.initials: VD
authors.lastname: Steen
authors.forename: D O
authors.initials: DO
authors.lastname: Clegg
authors.forename: H E
authors.initials: HE
authors.lastname: Paulus
authors.forename: L M
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Billingsley
authors.forename: M E
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Luggen
authors.forename: R P
authors.initials: RP
authors.lastname: Polisson
authors.forename: R F
authors.initials: RF
authors.lastname: Willkens
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001172:Arthritis, Rheumatoid / Q000453:epidemiology; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003240:Connective Tissue Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology*; D003882:Dermatomyositis / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008180:Lupus Erythematosus, Systemic / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011928:Raynaud Disease / Q000453:epidemiology; D012595:Scleroderma, Systemic / Q000453:epidemiology