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How to Read a Rheumatoid Factor Test

Facts you should know about rheumatoid cistron (RF)

Rheumatoid factor is often measured in blood tests to diagnose rheumatoid arthritis.

The rheumatoid factor claret test helps to diagnose rheumatoid arthritis.

  • Rheumatoid cistron is an antibody that is detectable in the blood of approximately lxxx% of adults with rheumatoid arthritis.
  • Rheumatoid factor test is used past health care professionals to assist in diagnosing rheumatoid arthritis.
  • Sometimes rheumatoid factor can exist detected in the blood of normal individuals and of those with other autoimmune diseases that are not rheumatoid arthritis.
  • In people with rheumatoid arthritis, loftier levels of rheumatoid factor can indicate a tendency toward more aggressive disease and/or a tendency to develop rheumatoid nodules and/or rheumatoid lung disease.

Picture of a joint capsule with RA

What Is Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA)?

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is an autoimmune disease that causes chronic inflammation of the joints. Autoimmune diseases are illnesses that occur when the body'south tissues are mistakenly attacked by their own immune system. The immune arrangement contains a circuitous organization of cells and antibodies designed normally to "seek and destroy" invaders of the body, particularly infections.

What is rheumatoid factor?

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Rheumatoid gene is an antibody that is measurable in the blood with a routine blood exam. Rheumatoid cistron is actually an antibody that can bind to other antibodies. Antibodies are normal proteins in our blood that are of import parts of our allowed system. Rheumatoid factor is an antibiotic that is non usually present in the normal individual. Because rheumatoid factor antibiotic binds to normal antibodies, information technology can be generally referred to equally an autoantibody. Health care professionals employ the rheumatoid factor test to assist in the diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis.

Rheumatoid gene is sometimes abbreviated as "RF."

SLIDESHOW

What Is Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA)? Symptoms, Treatment, Diagnosis See Slideshow

What is the rheumatoid factor test for?

Well-nigh commonly, rheumatoid gene is used as a blood exam for the diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis. Rheumatoid cistron is present in about 80% of adults (but a much lower proportion of children) with rheumatoid arthritis.

What are the normal ranges for rheumatoid factor?

The "normal" range (or negative exam event) for rheumatoid factor is less than fourteen IU/ml. Whatever event with values xiv IU/ml or above is considered abnormally loftier, elevated, or positive.

What do high rheumatoid levels hateful?

High levels of rheumatoid factor (rheumatoid factor "positive") are associated with a tendency toward more severe rheumatoid disease. This cistron is as well associated with a higher tendency to develop non-joint manifestations of rheumatoid disease, such as rheumatoid nodules and rheumatoid lung disease.

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Can you have high rheumatoid blood levels if you lot don't take rheumatoid arthritis?

Yes. Rheumatoid factor is also nowadays in patients with other weather, including other connective tissue diseases (such equally systemic lupus erythematosus and Sjögren's syndrome), some infectious diseases (such as infectious hepatitis, syphilis, infectious mononucleosis, parasites, and tuberculosis), liver disease, and sarcoidosis. Rheumatoid factor can also sometimes be present in normal individuals without diseases. This occurs more often in people with family unit members who have rheumatoid arthritis. And so precise interpretation of rheumatoid factors requires a complete knowledge of the patient's history and medical status.

QUESTION

The term arthritis refers to stiffness in the joints. See Reply

Medically Reviewed on 2/16/2022

References

Firestein, Gary South., et al. Kelley and Firestein's Textbook of Rheumatology, 10th Edition. Philadelphia: Elsevier, 2017.

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Source: https://www.medicinenet.com/rheumatoid_factor/article.htm