A cross-sectional study of association of Rheumatoid arthritis with sero-positivity and anaemia in a tertiary care teaching hospital

Background: Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is an autoimmune disease which mistakenly attacks the joints and inflammatory changes that thicken the joints (the synovium) resulting in swelling and pain in and around the joints.It causes pain, joint deformity and also affects the quality of life.The joint is affected symmetrically.It also can affect body systems, such as the cardiovascular, respiratory systems or other systems, which manifests as extra-articular manifestations.Anaaemia in RA are documented less in India hence this study was undertaken to correlates RA with anaemia as well as its relationship with seropositivity in RA patients.Materials and Methods: 60 patients (age between 18-60 years) attending Medicine/Rheumatology out-patient department were included in the study (duration of 12 months) who fulfilled the criteria laid down by ACR (American College of Rheumatology)/EULAR (European League against Rheumatism) for Rheumatoid arthritis.All the subjects underwent the thorough history, clinical examination and laboratory investigations.The relevant data was analyzed with appropriate statistical methods after 12 months duration.Results: Extra-articular manifestations in the total subjects were found to be 41.67%where the number of subjects was mostly between 31-40 years with incidence more in the female.Extra-articular manifestations were mostly anemia which was present in 36.67% of cases.Anaemia have a statistically significant value with increase in the duration of the disease (P=0.0230).Rheumatoid Factor (RF) was found positive in 38.2% of subjects with anaemia.Conclusion: Anaemia need to be looked carefully as it is associated with more severity in RA.Sero-positivity and anaemia both usually indicate that the rheumatoid arthritis is severe and may affect the quality of life.