An Analysis of Laboratory Characteristics of Patients with Suspected Rheumatoid Arthritis

摘要

Objectives: The aim of this study was to characterizea population of patients with rheumatological signs andsymptoms according to laboratory tests.Patients and methods: Data of a total of 386 patients (90males, 296 females; mean age 45.9 years; range 14 to 91)with rheumatological signs and symptoms for a three-yearperiod were retrospectively analyzed. Inflammatory activityusing erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) and C-reactiveprotein (CRP) tests were evaluated at the microbiologylaboratory of Afyon Kocatepe University, Faculty ofMedicine, Afyonkarahisar. The presence of rheumatoidfactor (RF) and cyclic citrullinated peptide (CCP) antibodieswere also analyzed. The ESR (mm/h) was determined bystandard methods, while the RF and CRP were measuredby immunonephelometry. The anti-CCP was studied byusing a test kit according to the manufacturer’s instructions.Results: A total of 270 patients were examined in a physicalmedicine and rehabilitation clinic. The results for anti-CCP,RF, CRP, and ESR were positive in 58 (21.5%), 77 (28.9%),120 (44.4%) and 107 patients (39.6%) respectively. Amongthese patients, a total of 67 were diagnosed with rheumatoidarthritis (RA). When we considered the association of ESR,CRP, RF, and anti-CCP positivity with RA diagnosis, bothanti-CCP (F=0.920) and RF (F=0.782) had a high positivecorrelation with RA. There was a close association betweenCRP (F=0.289) and ESR (F=0.236). Each of them had amoderate correlation with RA.Conclusion: Our study results showed that anti-CCP,followed by RF was the most closely associated autoantibodyin suspected RA patients. The anti-CCP and RFcombination provided the best test sensitivity.