Research Information System
TURKIYE KLINIKLERI TIP BILIMLERI DERGISI, vol.28, no.6, pp.834-838, 2008 (SCI-Expanded)
Objective: Assessment of disease activity is very important for successful management of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). The use of high sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) assays was recently recommended as a measure to identify low disease activity in RA. The aim of this study was to compare hs-CRP and C-reactive protein (CRP) levels to evaluate inflammation in patients with RA and to investigate their association with disease activity and the number of swollen/tender joints. Material and Methods: Eighty-six patients with RA and 65 age and sex matched healthy controls were enrolled in this study. All patients fulfilled the American College of Rheumatology (ACR) classification criteria for RA. Disease Activity Score (DAS) 28 was used for the assessment of disease activity. Number of swollen joints, number of tender joints and global assessment of the patient by using visual analog scale (VAS) were noted. CRP, hs-CRP, erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) of the patients with RA and controls were measured. We analyzed the association between hs-CRP, CRP and ESR versus other clinical variables. Results: The patients with RA had significantly higher levels of ESR, hs-CRP and CRP compared with controls (p<0.05). The hs-CRP was more closely associated with DAS 28 (r: 0.73, p<0.001), VAS (r: 0.69, p<0.001), number of swollen joints (r: 0.46, p=0.005) and number of tender joints (r: 0.42, p=0.001) than CRP. Conclusion: Our findings suggested that hs-CRP might be used to evaluate disease activity and inflammation in RA and that hs-CRP testing might reflect systemic inflammation in a more accurate way than routine CRP assays.