A prospective study of serum adenosine deaminase and alkaline phosphatase in rheumatoid arthritis

Abstract

Introduction: Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a systemic autoimmune disorder causing chronic inflammation and proliferation of the synovial tissues, destruction of articular cartilage and also affects many other sites that include the heart, blood vessels and skin. In general population the prevalence of RA is believed to range from 0.5-1.0 %. RA is reported to affect almost 1% of adult population worldwide and approximately 0.75% of adult Indian population. In India alone there are some 10 million people with RA. Materials and methods: The study was conducted at Department of Biochemistry, RIMS, Ranchi and test performed in Medall scans and lab, RIMS, Ranchi, Jharkhand. The study comprised of 30 patients of rheumatoid arthritis in the age group of 30-60 years who were diagnosed by clinical analysis, rheumatoid factor and E.S.R tests (Group 1). 60 healthy individual with no known history of any disease matched by age and sex with group 1 were taken as controls (Group 2). After taking informed consent and noting the name, age and sex, venous samples were drawn from both the groups. Results: In rheumatoid arthritis patients, serum Adenosine deaminase levels were high, the mean serum Adenosine deaminase levels were 60 ± 9.55 and in controls the mean Adenosine deaminase levels were 21 ± 3.04. The p value was significant at p < 0.001. We conclude that serum Adenosine deaminase can be used as a marker for cell mediated immunity to monitor disease activity in rheumatoid arthritis. Serum Alkaline phosphatase was found to be raised in rheumatoid arthritis, the mean serum Alkaline phosphatase levels were 291.63 ± 35.84 in patients of rheumatoid arthritis when compared to healthy controls (196.73 ± 32.71).The p value was significant at p<0.001. Conclusion: The present study has focused on investigating the serum total Alkaline phosphatase levels in Rheumatoid Arthritis Patients and The findings have indicated a raised serum Alkaline phosphatase in patients of rheumatoid arthritis when compared to healthy controls thereby suggesting the role of serum Alkaline phosphatase as a marker of disease activity in rheumatoid arthritis.