Journal for scientific research. Medical sciences 2001 Apr

Occurence of autoantibodies in healthy Omani individuals.

Abstract

Objectives

To investigate the occurence of various autoantibodies in the Omani population.

Method

Sera from 392 healthy Omani individuals comprising 183 pregnant women and 209 blood donors (183 men and 26 women) were investigated. Autoantibodies were detected using immunofluorescence, haemagglutination and latex agglutination techniques.

Result

Low levels of autoantibodies were detected in approximately 50% of the subjects; very few subjects showed high autoantibody titres. Anti smooth muscle autoantibodies (ASMA) were the most prevalent, and were detected in 31.6% of the individuals. Anti thyroid microsomal autoantibodies (ATMA) and anti thyroglobulin autoantibodies (ATA) were present in 5.9% and 4.9% of individuals respectively. The other autoantibodies were detected much less frequently, viz. anti nuclear autoantibodies (ANA) in 1.5%, anti parietal cells autoantibodies (APCA) in 1.8%, anti reticulin autoantibodies patterns (ARAP) in 3.0% and rheumatoid factor (RF) in 1.0% of the subjects.

Conclusion

The data indicate that autoantibodies do exist in healthy Omani individuals and the results of clinical tests for these autoantibodies must be interpreted with caution.

Related Questions

How do you monitor patients with incidentally found high titer anti-smooth muscle antibodies without stigmata of liver disease?

3 Answers

Mednet Member

Rheumatology · Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USUHS)

I have quite a few SLE patients with ASMA who do not have any signs of hepatic disease (though I did not do bxs in those with normal hepatic transaminases). They are very common in the general population. I have down in my notes a prevalence of 16%. However, there are studies showing prevalences as...