criteria defined by Bird and coworkers (1979) for the diagnosis of polymyalgia rheumatica (PMR), an inflammatory condition of unknown etiology. Criteria include bilateral shoulder pain and/or stiffness; onset of illness within previous 2 weeks; initial erythrocyte sedimentation rate exceeding 40 mm/hour; morning stiffness duration s exceeding 1 hour; patient older than 65 years; depression, and/or loss of weight; bilateral upper arm tenderness. A diagnosis of probable PMR is made if any three (or more) of these criteria or findings are fulfilled. The presence of three or more criteria yields a sensitivity of 92% and a specificity of 80%.