Prediction of future rheumatoid arthritis in Chinese patients with early arthritis: An effective way of patient care

Abstract

Objective: This was the first study to investigate the role of inflammatory biomarkers as predictors of future RA in Chinese patients with early onset of arthritis symptoms. The primary objective of this study was to check the involvement of inflammatory biomarkers as predictors of future RA in Chinese patients with early onset of arthritis symptoms. Methods: Adult patients of either gender (aged between 20 to 65 years) who had mild sign and symptoms of arthritis (morning stiffness, mild swollen joint, mild pain in joints) were enrolled. The sign and symptoms of arthritis were measured in each enrolled patient. All the patients were followed up for 6-month intervals till clinical diagnosis of RA confirmed (max 3 year). Laboratory investigation was performed at every follow up visit. Results: A total of 112 patients agreed to participate in our study, and willing to provide data as required by study, and completed the study. We found that the patients who had increased levels of rheumatoid factor of different immunoglobulin had high chance of developing RA. Similar trend was observed for antiperinuclear factor (APF) and antikeratin antibodies. The level of antinuclear antibodies was more among subjects who were diagnosed with RA than the subjects who don't have RA. Conclusion: Our study results suggested that the inflammatory biomarkers can be considered as predictors of future RA in Chinese patients with early onset of arthritis symptoms. Our study results support the hypothesis that biomarkers can be considered as one of the key predictors of future RA in Chinese patients with early onset of arthritis symptoms.