Objective To explore the Chinese medicine syndrome types of rheumatoid arthritis（ RA） by the method of variable cluster analysis. Methods Questionnaires were designed according to RA patients’ Chinese medicine clinical manifestations. Four-diagnostic information of 260 RA patients

such as Chinese medicine symptoms

signs

tongue picture

pulse was collected. The absolute frequency and relative frequency of all clinical symptoms was calculated. K-means cluster analysis was made on patients’ four-diagnostic information. Combined with clinical professional knowledge

RA patients’ Chinese medicine syndromes were classified and summarized. Results The most common clinical manifestations of 260 RA patients were joint pain（ with absolute frequency 257

relative frequency 98. 8%）

heavy cumbersome limbs（ 220

84. 6%）

joint swelling（ 204

78. 5%） and joint tenderness（ 181

69. 6%）. General symptoms included fatigue（ 179

68. 8%）

fear of cold（ 168

64. 6%）

fear of wind（ 160

61. 5%）

etc. Cluster analysis showed that RA could be typed as 5 syndromes

i

e. dampness-heat blockade

cold-dampness blockade

wind-dampness blockade

deficient cold of kidney Qi and deficiency of liver and kidney. Patients of all types had different degrees of joint pain

joint swelling and joint tenderness. All patients had soreness and weakness of waist and knees

fatigue and dysphoria except wind-dampness blockade patients. All patients had fear of cold and spontaneous sweating except dampness-heat blockade patients. Conclusion RA patients could be typed into 5 syndromes

including dampness-heat blockade

cold-dampness blockade

wind-dampness blockade

deficient cold of kidney Qi and deficiency of liver and kidney. It was almost consistent with previous clinical research results.