Antinuclear Antibodies in Four Upper Northern Provinces

Abstract

         Determination of antinuclear antibodies (ANA) is very important in diagnosis, prognosis and monitoring of systemic rheumatic diseases. In this study, the serological characteristics of ANA in patients suspected of systemic rheumatic diseases were studied. From October 2008 to September 2009, eight hundred and eighty-five serum samples were collected from Chiang Mai, Lamphun, Nan and Mae Hong Son provinces and tested for screening ANA by immunofluorescent technique. The results showed that the average prevalence of ANA was found in 32.1 percent of the patients whose serums were examined. It was more frequently seen in the female patients (34.0%) than in the male ones (26.6%) and found to increase with age. About half of the ANA positive patients gave titers at 100 while the others showed higher titers ranged from 1,000 to 10,000. Four common fluorescent patterns were speckled (40.8%), homogeneous (28.2%), nucleolar (13.7%) and centromere (9.5%). The data of this study may be useful in routine laboratory testing of ANA and the assessment of patients with systemic rheumatic diseases.

Key words: antinuclear antibodies, autoantibodies, rheumatic diseases, autoimmune diseases, immunofluorescent technique