Objective   To investigate the traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) syndromes of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) by studying the Chinese medical patterns

and analyze the correlations of different indicators and related syndromes.    Methods   The questionnaires were designed according to clinical epidemiological theories. The data were collected and analyzed by multivariate statistical methods.   Results   The TCM symptoms of the 401 cases of RA were concluded into 3 common factors

that is

cold

heat and deficient. Their syndromes were sub-classified as 6 groups: cold syndrome

heat syndrome

deficiency

cold heat complex

deficient cold and asthenic fever. Statistical analysis showed that there were significant differences in health assessment questionnaire (HAQ)

platelet (PLT)

rheumatoid factor (RF)

anti-keratin antibody (AKA) among these 6 TCM syndromes (P0.05).   Conclusion   RA patients in the Chongqing region have more cold heat complex. Heat syndrome is particularly prevalent in the disease activity period

and cold syndrome is more common in stable period. RA disease activity is associated with the TCM syndrome.