clinical practice

However, there is no unanimity about the prognostic value of the HLA genotype in clinical practice. For some authors, its determination in patients with initial arthritis would provide useful additional information, especially for the prediction of structural damage.

However, in some populations, including some studies conducted in the Mediterranean area, no association with the severity of the disease has been found. In a sample of Spanish patients with seropositive RA Hondrocream, patients with rheumatoid epitope had a more erosive disease. In other populations, such as the Scandinavian countries, the rheumatoid epitope would be more a marker of early disease than of severity.