Symmetric polyarthritis

What it means

Polyarthritis refers to a joint disease that involves at least five joints. One or more signs of inflammation, including pain, movement restriction, swelling, warmth, and redness, are seen in the joints involved. Polyarthritis is defined as symmetric if at least half of the joints involved are affected in a symmetric (i.e., both right and the left) fashion.

In the event that pain is the only symptom, it is difficult to differentiate polyarthritis from the causes of polyarticular joint pain, such as fibromyalgia or osteoarthritis.

Rare diseases that can present with this1

The range is how often this sign appears among people diagnosed with each disease — it is not a probability of having any of them. Many of these signs also occur in common, non-rare conditions. A sign on this page is a conversation to have with a clinician, not a conclusion.

Part of the broader category