Introduction: Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic inflammatory disorder which affects the joints and is associated with swelling, stiffness and pain. Advanced disease stages can lead to substantial loss of functioning and mobility. As RA causes functional limitations in the joints, this might affect the movements or the movement patterns of the damaged and inflamed joints. The prevalence of rheumatoid arthritis in India is about 1 to 1.5 %. The primary targets of inflammation are synovial membranes and articular structures but other organs also affected. Reaction time is a time interval between the presentation of stimulus and initiation of muscular response to that stimulus. Aim: To study audio-visual reaction time in Rheumatoid Arthritis. Material and Methods: 50 Rheumatoid Arthritis patients and 50 controlled subjects were randomly selected from the Medicine & Orthopedics OPD. Age group of the subject from 25 to 75 years and it includes both male & female. Reaction Time Apparatus by Anand Agencies Pune was used to record audio-visual reaction time. Study was carried out in research lab, dept. of Physiology, GMC Mumbai. Result: Comparison of the results for the patients with RA and for the healthy controls indicated that the reaction times were longer in the patients with RA than in the controls on both sides. Conclusion: Result shows that audiovisual reaction time is longer in RA patients than healthy subject. This could be due to impaired motor functions in RA patients.

Keywords: Rheumatoid arthritis (RA); RT (Reaction Time); Auditory Reaction Time (ART); Visual Reaction Time (VRT); OPD (Out Patient Department).