The history of rheumatoid arthritis

Abstract

The name for rheumatoid arthritis was provided by Alfred Baring Garrod in the late 1850s. Before this period there are descriptions of patients who seem to have had the disease which appeared from the late 1700s onwards, with more descriptions appearing after 1800. Analysis of portraits from the Flemish school of painters have suggested some of these showed features indicative of rheumatoid arthritis. However, the interpretation of the findings in these paintings is highly subjective. There is also some evidence from palaeopathological studies that skeletal remains from several thousand years ago in North America showed features suggestive of rheumatoid arthritis. As with the interpretation of art, this is a relatively subjective field and the findings remain controversial. The key points made in this chapter are that rheumatoid arthritis was definitely present in the nineteenth century and may have been present before them. Whether it is a modern disease or has a long history remains speculative.