Clinical significance of rheumatoid factor isotypes in seropositive arthritis

✍ Scribed by T. Jónsson; H. Valdimarsson

• Publisher: Springer
• Year: 1992
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 338 KB
• Volume: 12
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0172-8172
• DOI: 10.1007/bf00290265

✦ Synopsis

In this cross-sectional study a comparison was made of rheumatoid factor (RF) isotypes in 203 RF positive patients with arthritis. Of these, 129 had rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and 74 a milder disease that would formerly have been classified as probable RA. The majority (74%) of the RA patients had elevations of two or three RF isotypes compared with only 34% of the patients with the milder form of arthritis. A striking feature was that combined elevation of IgM RF and IgA RF was found in 67% of the RA patients compared to only 20% of the patients with milder arthritis who most frequently had an isolated elevation of IgM RF (41%). RA patients with an isolated elevation of IgA RF were younger and had a shorter disease history than RA patients with an isolated elevation in IgM RF or a combined elevation of IgA RF and IgM RF. The prevalence of raised IgM RF was, furthermore, found to increase with age and disease duration. We conclude that a raised level of IgA RF is an adverse phenomenon in patients with seropositive arthritis while patients with an isolated increase in IgM RF may be expected to experience a relatively mild disease course.