Smarika Sapkota, John Crosson, Michael D Evans, Londyn Robinson, Adam Lord, Benjamin Kofoed, Jerry A Molitor
{"title":"Dense fine speckled antinuclear antibody patterns: Clinical correlations and implications.","authors":"Smarika Sapkota, John Crosson, Michael D Evans, Londyn Robinson, Adam Lord, Benjamin Kofoed, Jerry A Molitor","doi":"10.46439/rheumatology.5.027","DOIUrl":"10.46439/rheumatology.5.027","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background/purpose: </strong>The significance of Dense Fine Speckled (DFS) pattern Anti-nuclear antibodies (ANA) by indirect mmunofluorescence (IIF) is unclear in the existing research. We aimed to investigate associations between positive ANA with DFS pattern and multiple autoimmune and rheumatic conditions.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>This retrospective study analyzed datasets from patients tested for ANA between August 2017 and August 2019. Comparisons were made between diagnostic categories and diseases for patients with negative ANA, positive ANA (any pattern), and positive ANA with DFS pattern. Relative risk (RR) was calculated for diagnostic categories and individual diseases.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Of 13,845 ANA results, 65.8% were negative and 34.2% were positive, including 4.6% with DFS pattern. Among ANA positive DFS pattern patients, 10.6% had inflammatory arthritis, 20.6% had fibromyalgia/chronic pain syndrome/chronic fatigue, 13.3% had SARD and only 2.2% had atopic disorder. Comparing ANA positive other patterns and DFS pattern, specific diagnoses like seropositive RA, SLE, SSc, and UCTD were lower among ANA positive DFS pattern. Similarly, diagnoses of Raynaud's with SSc or UCTD were lower in DFS pattern patients compared to ANA positive with other patterns. The rate of other diagnoses including seronegative RA, IIM, SS, autoimmune thyroid disorder, and autoimmune hepatitis did not differ between other patterns and DFS pattern.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>The presence of DFS pattern cannot indiscriminately exclude the presence of SARD or rheumatic disease, as diagnoses including seronegative RA, IIM, SS, autoimmune thyroid disorder, or autoimmune hepatitis did not differ among ANA positive with other patterns and DFS pattern.</p>","PeriodicalId":520858,"journal":{"name":"Current rheumatology research","volume":"5 1","pages":"1-8"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12341086/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144839964","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Joshua B Bilsborrow, J Kennedy Amaral, Robert Schoen
{"title":"Chikungunya: an emerging rheumatological pandemic?","authors":"Joshua B Bilsborrow, J Kennedy Amaral, Robert Schoen","doi":"10.46439/rheumatology.2.012","DOIUrl":"10.46439/rheumatology.2.012","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Chikungunya virus (CHIKV) has recently emerged alongside Ebolavirus, Zika virus, and SARS-CoV-2 as the causative pathogen for a global pandemic. CHIKV is a single-stranded RNA alphavirus that is transmitted by <i>Aedes</i> species mosquitos and has spread beyond its endemic regions in East Africa and South Asia through the Indian Ocean islands, into Southern Europe, and through the Caribbean and the wider Americas. Acute chikungunya fever (CHIKF) is characterized by high fevers, arthralgias, myalgias, headaches, gastrointestinal disturbances, and maculopapular rash. Almost all patients recover from the acute illness, but up to fifty percent develop a chronic rheumatic syndrome with disabling arthritis that can last for months to years. Treatment of acute CHIKF is mainly supportive, while immunomodulation of chronic rheumatic disease with disease modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (DMARDs) such as methotrexate appears to be beneficial. Preventive measures such as mosquito vector control and vaccination could decrease transmission and reduce the burden of chronic disabling post-viral arthritis.</p>","PeriodicalId":520858,"journal":{"name":"Current rheumatology research","volume":"2 1","pages":"12-17"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12120434/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144183196","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}