Objective To study the effect and safety of optimum proposal of integration of disease and TCM syndrome for the treatment of rheumatoidarthritis.Methods Seventy-six rheumatoidarthritis patients were randomized into Chinese herbal group（22 cases）

Chinese herbal plus western medicine group（29 cases）

and western medicine group（25 cases）.The Chinese herbal group was treated with the optimum proposal of integration of disease and TCM syndrome

based on which

the Chinese herbal plus western medicine group was treated with loxoprofen sodium tablets（60mg

twice a day）and leflunomide（20mg

once a day）.The western medicine group was treated with western medicines alone.Three months constitue once course

3 courses in succession were fufilled.Three and nine months after treatment

the scores of visual analogue scale（VAS）

number of painful joints

number of swelling joints

mean grip strength of hands

morning stiffness time

erythrocyte sedimentation rate（ESR）

C-reactive protein（CRP）

rheumatoid factors（RF）

and untoward effect of 3 groups were observed.Results Three and nine months after treatment

there was significant difference in all 3 groups in VAS

number of painful joints

number of swelling joints

mean grip strength of hands

morning stiffness time

and ESR as compared with those before treatment（P<0.05 or P<0.01）

and the improvement of VAS score in Chinese herbal plus western medicine group and Chinese herbal group was more obvious than that of western medicine group（P<0.05）.The general effect of 3 groups was without significant difference（P>0.05）.The incidence of untoward effect in the Chinese herbal group was less than that of the western medicine group and the Chinese herbal plus western medicine group（P<0.05）.Conclusion The effect of optimum proposal of integration of disease and TCM syndrome in the treatment of rheumatoidarthritis is definit

especially in analgesia

and with less untoward effect.