Evaluation of ACR 1987 criteria and the role of anti-cyclic citrullinated peptide antibodies for the diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis / 中华风湿病学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To revise the American College of Rheumatology classification criteria for rheumatoid arthritis(RA)with anti-cyclic citrullinated peptide(anti-CCP)antibodies and to evaluate its utility in the diagnosis of Chinese patients.Methods All patients from the Department of Rheumatology and Immunology of Peking University People's Hospital who had arthritis complaints in recent two years were enrolled.Patients were divided into RA group and non-RA group according to the clinical diagnosis by experienced rheumatologists.The diagnostic value of ACR criteria and the anti-CCP revised criteria(RA-6,RA-7 and RA-8)were evaluated by analyzing the clinical and laboratory parameters.Results A total of 604 patients were included in the study.312 patients were diagnosed as RA and 292 were diagnosed as other rheumatic diseases by rheumatologists.For those patients who had disease course for less than 2 years,the sensitivity of 1987 ACR criteria,RA-6,RA-7 and RA-8 criteria was 82.0%,91.0%.87.0%and 87.0%,respectively.The specificity of them was 95.6%,83.9%,95.6%and 95.6%.respectively.The sensitivity of 1987 ACR criteria,RA-6,RA-7 and RA-8 criteria for all the RA patients was 92.3%,96.8%.94.6%and 94.6%,respectively.The speciflcity of them was 92.8%,83.6%,92.8%and 92.8%.respectively.Conclusion The 1987 ACR criteria have high sensitivity and specificity in established RA.but its sensitivity in early RA is low.The RA-6criteria can improve the sensitivity dramatically but with reduced specificity.The RA-7 criteria can increase the sensitivity without sacrifice the specificity,especially in early RA patients.It may be used as a new set of classification criteria in clinical practice.