Abstract
The prevalence of Antinuclear Antibodies (ANA) positivity has increased following Covid-19 infection. This study investigates the ANA positivity rate by comparing ANA data from two distinct years, 2019 (a pre-Covid year) and 2022 (a post-Covid year). This retrospective study analyzes and compares ANA Indirect Immunofluorescence Assay (IFA) data for the years 2019 and 2022 across various parameters, including age, gender, prevalence rate, positivity rate by grade, and patterns of ANA. In the post-Covid year 2022, there was a notable increase in both the total suspected cases and the ANA-positive cases, amounting to approximately a 30% rise. Positivity rates were observed to increase with age, and a female preponderance was noted in both years. Nuclear speckled patterns remained the most common in both time periods. The post-Covid pandemic period has witnessed a significant role of immune modulation in the development of autoimmunity. This phenomenon could potentially be attributed to Molecular Mimicry, the production of Autoantibodies upon exposure to Viral epitopes through the generation of Neutrophil Extracellular Traps (NETs), or via Toll-like Receptor (TLR) pathways of immune modulation, which may activate latent autoimmunity.
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