Correlation of Anti-CCP Antibodies with RA Disease Activity

Rheumatoid Arthritis ( RA ) is the most common autoimmune disease affecting approximately 1 % of the world¿s populations. Active RA lead to severe joint destruction, functional disability and impaired health status, particularly if sustained at high level for prolonged period of time. Disability from it causes major economic loss and can have a profound impact on families and society. Because no single measure that is adequate has been identified to measure disease activity in RA, several disease indices has been developed but they are time consuming and often not suitable to measure disease activity in out patient setting and also based on subjective and objective measure which may vary person to person. So to identify the potential serological marker especially auto antibodies which are more specific for RA and associated with disease activity can optimize treatment of RA particularly in the early phase of the disease, thereby avoiding its progression to erosive, destructive and disabling forms.