The value of high sensitivity c-reactive protein as a measure to identify low disease activity in rheumatoid arthritis

Abstract EN

Objective : to determine the value of high sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) testing as a disease activity marker in rheumatoid arthritis (RA).

Methods : clinical disease activity variables, hs-CRP and erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) were recorded in 50 consecutive RA patients.

Fifteen apparently normal individuals were included as a control group.

Their data were statistically analyzed to detect the associations between the ESR and hsCRP versus the other recorded variables.

Results : The mean value of hs-CRP (ng / ml) in RA cases was (335.9 ± 192 ng / ml) and (65.2 ± 22.8 ng / ml) in control group.

The mean value of ESR (mm / h) was (51.6 ± 29.6) in cases and (14.3 ± 3.5) in control group.

The level of hs-CRP shows highly significant positive correlation with over all, disease activity variables (p < 0.001).

The mean value of hs-CRP was consistently more strongly associated with other disease activity variables than ESR.

Also, the best cut off value of hs-CRP in prediction of RA disease activity as obtained from ROC curve was 290 ng / ml which had the best sensitivity and the lowest false positive rate.

Conclusion : hs-CRP testing can be a useful measure in detecting low disease activity in RA.