Objective To understand current status of patients with rheumatoid arthritis（RA） receiving traditional Chinese medicine（TCM） treatment. Methods Case information of RA patients treated with TCM in many TCM hospitals and some western medicine hospitals was collected from Chinese Rheumatoid Arthritis Data Center-Traditional Chinese Medicine（CRDC-TCM）. Disease activity scores（DAS28） calculated by erythrocyte sedimentation rate（ESR） and C-reactive protein（CRP） respectively

course of disease

systemic involvement and medication in patients were analyzed by using descriptive statistical methods. Results A total of 1247 RA patients were included

with 205 males（16.4%） and 1042 females（83.6%）. The average DAS28-ESR was（5.50±1.45） points

and 1175 patients（96.4%） were with moderate and high disease activity scores. The average DAS28-CRP was（4.80±1.40） points

and there were 1096 patients（92.9%） with moderate and high disease activity scores. The median course of disease was 6（2

12） years

578（46.4%） patients with a course of more than 1 year and no more than 5 years. There were 956 cases（76.7%） without systemic involvement

and 291 cases（23.3%） with systemic involvement. Among them

digestive system involvement was the most common

with 186 cases（14.9%）

followed by 88 cases with blood system involvement（7.1%） and 82 cases with respiratory system involvement（6.6%）. X-ray staging of patients′ hands was mostly in stage Ⅱ and Ⅲ

with 199 cases（37.1%） and 154 cases（28.7%）

respectively. A total of 895（71.8%） patients had taken or were taking non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs（NSAIDs）

835（67.0%） patients had taken or were taking disease-modified anti-rheumatic drugs（DMARDs）

679（54.5%） patients had taken or were taking Chinese patent medicine and extract preparations of Chinese materia medica

674（54.0%） patients had taken or were taking decoctions

and 256（20.5%） patients had used or were using external applied agent of Chinese materia medica. Conclusion Status in most RA patients treated with TCM is moderate and severe

and some of them have systemic damage. In terms of treatment

DMARDs and NSAIDs are main drugs of choice. Chinese medicine decoction

Chinese patent medicines and extract preparations play an important role.