Rheumatoid arthritis is a chronic, progressively debilitating disease in which there is arthritis of peripheral joints (fingers, wrists, etc.) associated with relapsing systemic episodes of fever and/or malaise.  RA varies in its course.  Some patients have a relatively mild disorder that progresses minimally. Others experience a fulminate and devastating course.

The diagnosis is made from the clinical picture and with the Rheumatoid Factor test (or Rheumatoid Arthritis test, also called RA or RF).  This detects the presence of Rheumatoid Factor that is an antibody against human antibody.  Ten % of patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis have a negative test.  This is called seronegative Rheumatoid arthritis.  A small percentage of the positive tests are not the results of Rheumatoid arthritis.