Article Sidebar
Article Details
Copyright remains in the Author’s name. The work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution - Noncommercial Works License. Authors are required to complete and sign an Author Agreement form that outlines Author and Publisher rights and terms of publication. The Agreement form should be uploaded along with other submissions files and any submission will be considered incomplete without it [forthcoming].
Material submitted for publication in the SAMJ is accepted provided it has not been published or submitted for publication elsewhere. Please inform the editorial team if the main findings of your paper have been presented at a conference and published in abstract form, to avoid copyright infringement. The SAMJ does not hold itself responsible for statements made by the authors.
Previously published images
If an image/figure has been previously published, permission to reproduce or alter it must be obtained by the authors from the original publisher and the figure legend must give full credit to the original source. This credit should be accompanied by a letter indicating that permission to reproduce the image has been granted to the author/s. This letter should be uploaded as a supplementary file during submission.
Main Article Content
Prevalence of biochemical and immunological abnormalities in rheumatoid arthritis
Abstract
Tile prevalence of biochemical and immunological abnormalities was studied in a group of 256 patients with rheumatoid arthritis (104 coloureds, 100 whites and 52 blacks). The most common biochemical abnormalities detected were a reduction in the serum creatinine value (43,4%), raised globulins (39,7%), raised serum alkaline phosphatase level (42,3%), reduction in serum albumin value (8,1%), a mild rise in serum creatinine value (6,6%), and a raised serum y-glutamyltranspeptidase (GGT) level (6,5%). The prevalence of a rise in the GGT was less frequent than reported in other published studies. The immunological abnormalities noted were a positive rheumatoid factor (78,9%), positive anti-nuclear factor (36%), raised serum IgG (43,3%) and IgA (10,5%) values, positive smooth-muscle antibody (12,5%) and elevated double-stranded anti-DNA antibody levels (2,3%). Inter-group comparisons showed that the serum IgG and IgA and total globulins were significantly higher in blacks and coloureds than whites; these findings may be related to a higher prevalence of malnutrition and infection in childhood in these communities. There were no significant inter-group differences that could be attributed to rheumatoid arthritis.
