Differential expression and correlation of inflammatory markers and bone metabolism markers in osteoarthritis, gouty arthritis and rheumatoid arthritis:a retrospective cohort study

Abstract Objectives To investigate the differences in the expression of inflammatory and bone metabolism markers in patients with osteoarthritis, gouty arthritis and rheumatoid arthritis, and to elucidate the correlation between the markers of the three diseases. Methods 373 patients were retrospectively analyzed, including 138 patients with osteoarthritis(OA), 72 patients with gouty arthritis(GA) and 163 patients with rheumatoid arthritis༈RA༉. Blood indices included inflammatory indices and bone metabolism indices. In this study, we firstly screened the three kinds of differential markers by differential analysis between diseases, secondly used correlation analysis to determine the correlation between markers, and finally performed binary logistic regression analysis. Results fibrinogen(FIB) can be used as an important marker to differentiate OA, GA and RA.The level of FIB was higher in GA, slightly lower in RA than in GA, and lower in OA, and there was a positive correlation between FIB and erythrocyte sedimentation rate(ESR).The area under the curve(AUC) of FIB in OA and GA patients was 0.87 (95% CI: 0.82, 0.92), the AUC value of ESR/Ca in OA and RA was 0.79 (95% CI: 0.74, 0.84), and the AUC value of the combination of disease indexes was 0.84 (95% CI: 0.79, 0.88).The AUC value of FIB in GA and RA and the FIB/ PLT had an AUC value of 0.66 (95% CI: 0.59, 0.74) and disease marker combination AUC value of 0.73 (95% CI: 0.66, 0.81). Conclusions FIB was positively correlated with c-reactive protein(CRP),ESR, and platelet(PLT) in OA, GA, and RA patients, and FIB, P/FIB ratio, and FIB/Ca ratio were significantly different in OA, GA, and RA patients. PLT, ESR/CA, FIB/CA, PTH, FIB, FIB/PLT marker combinations may also be used to differentiate OA, GA, and RA patients.