Main Disease Association
Rheumatoid arthritis

Category
Antibody

When to Order
* For patients with clinical suspicion of rheumatoid arthritis with symptoms typically consisting of symmetrical, small joint inflammatory arthritis present for six weeks or longer

What It Means Of Positive
* NOT SPECIFIC to rheumatoid arthritis or any other rheumatic disease (specificity does rise if RF is high positive (5 or more times the upper limit of normal))
* Can be seen in many other conditions including hepatitis infections, tuberculosis, cryoglobulinemia, bacterial endocarditis, etc.
Very high values can correlate with disease severity but RF does not correlate with fluctuations in disease activity

What It Means If Negative
* High sensitivity for rheumatoid arthritis
* Patients can seroconvert in their disease course, but RF does NOT correlate with fluctuations in disease activity