Journal of AdvancedMedical and Dental Sciences Research

Background: Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is the paradigm of a systemic autoimmune disease characterized by inflammatory polyarthritis. The prevalence of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) in most populations is around 1% with an incidence in women three times that in men. Hence we planned to assess prevalence of anemia in patients of RA. We will also assess other hematological parameters like total leukocyte count (TLC), differential leukocyte count (DLC) platelet count, erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR). Material & Methods: This hospital based observation study was conducted among 50 patients of rheumatoid arthritis diagnosed according to 2010 ACR/EULAR Classification Criteria for Rheumatoid Arthritis at Department of Pathology, Sardar Patel, Medical College &associated group of Hospitals, Bikaner. Evaluation of hematological parameters was done by collecting 5 ml of venous blood sample on EDTA prefilled vial and transporting it to the laboratory immediately. Pearson's coefficient was used to investigate the correlation between the two variables. Statistical significance was set at P value ≤ 0.05. Results: The mean age of anaemic patients was 36.58±13.79years, and that of non anaemic patients was 43.38±11.21 years. Difference in age in anaemic and non anaemic patients was not statistically significant (p>0.05). ACD (38%) was the commonest type of anaemia observed in our study group followed by IDA (16%) was the next most common. RF was positive in 40 (80%) patients. Among 34 anaemic patients 28 (82.35%) were RF positive and 6 (15%) were RF-ve. Higher RF positivity found in anaemic patients but this association between anaemia and RF positivity was not statistically significant(p>0.05). Thrombocytosis was found in 4 out of total 50 study subjects. Among these all patient were female. But the difference for sex among patients was not statistically significant (p>0.05). Conclusion: We concluded that 85 of cases of RA had anaemia. Higher RF positivity found in anaemic patients and RF positivity was more in patient with thrombocytosis. Keywords: RA, Hematological parameters, Anemia, Thrombocytosis