A Dutch urban population of 977 persons aged 85 years and over was examined for the presence of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Prevalence rates for definite RA, past polyarthritis with joint deformation and past polyarthritis without joint deformation were 0.3%, 0.3% and 0.7%, respectively. The polyarthritis patients did not differ from age-matched controls with respect to crude scores of physical disability, the presence of serum rheumatoid factor or the presence of HLA-DR4. Although these data should be interpreted with caution because of the small patient groups, we conclude that in persons aged 85 years and over the prevalence of RA is low, and the disease is relatively mild.