Objective: To analyze the regularity between traditional Chinese medicine(TCM's) characteristics and treatment of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) on the basis of the modern medical research literatures

establish a mathematic model in order to give a reference for clinical study and clinical prescription for treatment of RA with TCM's. Method: Articles about 376 RA-treating prescriptions with TCM's published were collected during the past 30 years

in which 50 medicines were identified as high frequency in 205 RA-treating medicines

and screened to summarize the number of 50 high frequency medicines with its different function

channel tropism

property and flavor. A mathematic model was established on the multivariate discriminatory analysis. Result: Medicines for rheumatism (33.33%)

those activating blood circulation and removing blood stasis (25.71%)

and medicines of urinary bladder meridian (23.68%) were relatively active for treatment of RA and showed difference (P<0.05). According to the findings of the logistic regression screen

TCM's attribute to medicines for rheumatism

activating blood circulation and removing blood stasis

medicines for calming liver to stop endogenous wind heart

tonic

medicines for relieving exterior syndrome

heat-clearing medicines

and urinary bladder meridian medicines were important factors with therapeutic effect on RA (regression coefficient>0 and P<0.01). The coincidence was 90.0%. Conclusion: There are certain relationships between TCM's characteristics and its therapeutic effect on RA

the high frequency medicines are the representative on treatment of RA

and also give an important reference for clinical prescription. The result indicates the coincidence with relevant theories of the traditional Chinese medical science by the logistic regression analysis.