Test predicts development of rheumatoid arthritis

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Test predicts development of rheumatoid arthritis

Last Updated: 2004-04-01 14:24:09 -0400 (Reuters Health)

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - In people who have joint pain, or early

" undifferentiated arthritis, " those who have detectable antibodies to

compounds in the body called cyclic citrullinated peptides (CCPs) are at

high risk of developing rheumatoid arthritis within the next three

years, Dutch investigators report.

Distinguishing between rheumatoid arthritis and self-limiting joint pain

is important, because the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis is not

without side effects.

Doctors already use a test for so-called rheumatoid factor to confirm a

diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis. According to Dr. F. A. van Gaalen at

Leiden University Medical Center and colleagues, testing for anti-CCP

antibodies is more accurate.

Van Gaalen's group identified 936 newly referred patients with joint

symptoms that had lasted less than two years, among whom 37 percent were

categorized as having undifferentiated arthritis. Among 318 patients

with undifferentiated arthritis who were followed for three years, 69

tested positive for anti-CCP antibodies at the beginning of the study.

Overall, 40 percent of the undifferentiated group had developed

rheumatoid arthritis after three years, the researchers report in the

medical journal Arthritis and Rheumatism. The rate among those positive

for anti-CCP was 93 percent, versus 25 percent for those negative for

the autoantibodies.

Should testing for anti-CCP replace that for rheumatoid factor in

diagnosing rheumatoid arthritis? The authors point out that their study

was not designed to answer that question, and that currently anti-CCP

tests are more expensive and not as commonly available.

SOURCER: Arthritis and Rheumatism, March 2004.

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