ABSTRACT
Objective: To determine the frequency of Rheumatoid Factor [RF] in patients with Hepatitis C infection [HCV] associated polyarthropathy at Combined Military Hospital Quetta
Study Design: Cross-sectional study
Place and Duration of Study: Department of Medicine, Combined Military Hospital Quetta, from 1st Oct 2012 to 31st Mar 2013
Material and Methods: Two hundred and seven patients having confirmed Hepatitis C infection [positive anti HCV antibodies and positive HCV RNA by Qualitative PCR] with polyarthropathy were included in this study. These patients were screened for RF by immunonochromatography based RF Latex assay kit
Results: Out of 207 patients, 138 [66.67%] were males and 69 [33.33%] were females. The age among all subjects ranged from 21-55 years and mean age of all subjects was 44.29 +/- 4.61 years, the youngest patient was 21 years old and eldest was 55 years old. Most of the patients 97 [47%] were in the age group of 36-45 years. RF was positive in 88 [42.51%] patients and it was negative in 119 [57.49%] patients suffering from hepatitis C infection associated polyarthropathy. The frequency of RF in female patients was 66 [48%] and in male patients was 22 [32%] and it was significantly [p-value=0.0367] greater in female patients as compared to male patients
Conclusion: The detection of Rheumatoid Factor [RF] is of little utility as a diagnostic tool for concurrent RA in patients of chronic HCV infection because a high percentage of them were having serum RF reactivity