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Serum Amyloid A Circulating Levels and Disease Activity in Patients with Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis Full Text
Yonsei Medical Journal, 08/17/2012
Cantarini L et al. – The authors suggest that serum amyloid A protein can be used as an additional indicator of disease activity in juvenile idiopathic arthritis.
Methods- The authors’ study group included 41 JIA patients (9 male, 32 female), classified according to the International League of Associations for Rheumatology (ILAR) criteria (5); 16 had polyarticular onset disease and 25 had oligoarticular onset disease.
- Among 25 patients with oligoarticular disease, three had extended oligoarthritis.
- Serum amyloid A (SAA), erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) and C-reactive protein (CRP) were measured in both patients and 26 healthy controls.
- SAA levels were higher in JIA patients versus healthy controls (p<0.001).
- Significant positive correlations were found between SAA and the presence of active joints (rho=0.363, p<0.05), the number of active joints (rho=0.418, p<0.05), ESR (R=0.702, p<0.05) and CRP (R=0.827, p<0.05).
- No significant correlations between ESR and the presence of active joints (rho=0.221, p=0.225) or between ESR and the number of active joints (rho=0.118, p=0.520) were demonstrated in JIA patients.
- No significant correlations were obtained between CRP and the presence of active joints (rho=0.034, p=0.855) or between CRP and the number of active joints (rho=0.033, p=0.859).
- The authors discovered a significant increase in SAA levels in JIA patients, compared to controls, and a strong positive correlation between SAA level and JIA disease activity.
- They also discerned SAA to be a more sensitive laboratory marker than ESR and CRP for evaluating the presence and number of active joints.