Abstract
Patients and methods: Patients fulfilling ACR criteria were recruited into a prospective cohort within 6 months of disease onset and reviewed every 6 months. An HA binding protein based sandwich ELISA was used to measure HA in 240 sera from 82 patients at regular intervals.
Results: Patients had higher HA levels than age matched healthy blood donor controls (median 37.4 v 29.1 ng/ml, respectively, p<0.02), which increased with more prolonged disease. Baseline HA level correlated with measures of disease activity, including swollen and tender joint counts, HAQ, global assessments, ESR, and CRP; was higher in men; and increased with age. There was no relationship with HLA-DRB1 shared epitope or rheumatoid factor status. At 6 and 12 month follow up visits, HA levels were higher in patients who later developed erosions. However, a raised HA level was not a good predictor of erosions.
Conclusions: Serum HA level correlates with clinical and laboratory measures of disease activity in early RA, but is unlikely to be of practical use in clinical practice.
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