FRI0056 Joint damage in patients with rheumatoid arthritis over 15-20 years – are there differences between women and men?

Background Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is suggested to be a more severe disease in women than in men as disease activity appears higher in women and men meet remission criteria more often than women do. Long-term severity of RA can be analyzed from permanent joint damage in radiographs. Objectives To study possible differences in the extent of radiographic joint damage between women and men in four early RA cohorts with 15 or more years of prospective follow-up. Methods Early RA cohorts with prospective longitudinal observations include following cohorts: Jyvaskyla Central Hospital with 70 patients from 1990’s (JYV1990) and 135 patients from the 1980’s (JYV1980), Lund University Hospital with…