OBJECTIVETo study the objective diagnostic mechanisms on Chinese medical (CM) syndrome patterns of rheumatoid arthritis (RA), and to research different titers of rheumatoid factor (RF)/citrullinated protein antibody (CCP) in CM syndrome patterns of RA.

METHODSTotally 230 early RA patients were assigned to five CM syndrome pattern groups, i.e., the dampness-heat blockage group (50 cases), the cold-dampness blockage group (50 cases), the Shen-qi deficiency-cold group (50 cases), the Gan-Shen yin deficiency group (40 cases), and the blood stasis blockage group (40 cases). Another 100 healthy subjects were recruited as the healthy control group. RF-IGM, RF-IGA, RF-IGG, and anti-CCP antibody were detected and compared.

RESULTSThe titers of RF-IGM, RF-IGA, RF-IGG, and anti-CCP antibody were higher in all groups than in the healthy control groups (P < 0.01). As for the 5 groups, RF-IGM, RF-IGA,RF-IGG, and anti-CCP antibody were higher in the RA active stage than in the nonactive stage. They were higher in the dampness-heat blockage group in the RA active stage than in the Shen-qi deficiency-cold group, the Gan-shen yin deficiency group, and the blood stasis blockage group.

CONCLUSIONTiters of RF-IGM, RF-IGA, RF-IGG, and anti-CCP antibody could be taken as judging indicators for differentiating objective lab indices of CM syndromes and assessing the active stage of RA.