E-ISSN 2602-3164
EJMI. 2019; 3(4): 275-279 | DOI: 10.14744/ejmi.2019.74073

Relationship Between Rheumatoid Arthritis Activation Criteria and Serum Hepcidin Levels

Esma Turkmen Bekmez1, Omur Volkan2, Nazli Demir3, Esra Turan Erkek4, Demet Ataman Tasan5, Mehmet Aliustaoglu6
1Department of Medical Oncology, University of Health Sciences, Derince Training and Research Hospital, Kocaeli, Turkey, 2Department of Rheumatology, University of Health Sciences Dr. Lutfi Kirdar Training and Research Hospital, Istanbul, Turkey, 3Department of Hematology, University of Health Sciences Şişli Etfal Training and Research Hospital, Istanbul, Turkey, 4Department of Hematology, University of Health Sciences Dr. Lutfi Kirdar Training and Research Hospital, Istanbul, Turkey, 5Department of Rheumatology, Medical Park Hospital, Istanbul, Turkey, 6Department of Medical Oncology, University of Health Sciences Dr. Lutfi Kirdar Training and Research Hospital, Istanbul, Turkey

Objectives: Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic, inflammatory, systemic, autoimmune disease of unknown etiology. It is a chronic systemic disease primarily involving synovial joints. Evaluation of disease activity in RA is very important in terms of patient follow-up and assessing the response to drugs. Hepcidin is an acute-phase protein. It is greatly increased in inflammation or iron overload. Based on this, we aimed to reveal the relationship between Hepcidin, an acute-phase protein, and disease activity in patients with RA in this study. Methods: Fifty individuals with rheumatoid arthritis who applied to the rheumatology outpatient clinic of Kartal Dr. Lutfı Kırdar Education and Research Hospital and 36 healthy individuals as the control group were included in the study. All patients underwent general physical examination and locomotor system examination. From routine laboratory tests, complete blood count, biochemical tests, thyroid hormone levels, C-reactive protein (CRP), erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), rheumatoid factor (RF) measurements were performed. We divided the patients with rheumatoid arthritis into three groups as low activity, moderate activity and high activity according to the disease activity score (DAS28). The DAS 28 score was not calculated in healthy individuals because they did not have rheumatoid arthritis. Results: Hepcidin measurements of RA and control groups included in the study were compared. There was no statistically significant difference between hepcidin values in RA group and hepcidin values in control group (p=0.518). In RA group, there was a statistically significant difference between hepcidin and CRP values (p=0.001) and between hepcidin and sedimentation values (p=0.01). There was a statistically significant difference only between hepcidin values of the users and non-users of steroid (p=0.042). Conclusion: In conclusion, no statistically significant difference was found between patients with rheumatoid arthritis and healthy individuals in terms of hepcidin levels in our study. Although hepcidin is an acute-phase protein and increased in inflammatory events, we think that it is not appropriate to use serum hepcidin measurement to evaluate disease activity in rheumatoid arthritis. Keywords: Disease activity score 28, hepcidin, rheumatoid arthritis


Cite This Article

Turkmen Bekmez E, Volkan O, Demir N, Turan Erkek E, Ataman Tasan D, Aliustaoglu M. Relationship Between Rheumatoid Arthritis Activation Criteria and Serum Hepcidin Levels. EJMI. 2019; 3(4): 275-279

Corresponding Author: Esma Turkmen Bekmez

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