Usefulness of routine hepatitis C and hepatitis B serology in the diagnosis of recent-onset arthritis. Systematic prospective screening in all patients seen by the rheumatologists of a defined area – Brief report - 05/05/12
, Paul ornetti a, Jean-François Garrot b, Françoise Pascaud c, Christian Tavernier a, Jean-Francis Maillefert a, d
Corresponding author. Department of Rheumatology, Hôpital Général, 3, rue du Faubourg-Raines, 21000 Dijon, France. Tel.: +33 3 80 29 37 45; fax: +33 3 80 29 36 78.Bienvenue sur EM-consulte, la référence des professionnels de santé.
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Abstract |
Objective |
Previous studies evaluating the usefulness of systematic screening for hepatitis B and C in patients with recent-onset arthritis suffered from a major bias since they were conducted in hospitals. The objective of the present study was to evaluate the relevance of such screening, performed by hospital and office-based rheumatologists of a defined area, in the diagnosis of arthritis or inflammatory polyarthralgia of less than 1year duration.
Methods |
The CRRRI is a network which includes most hospital and office-based rheumatologists of an area with a population of 506,755 inhabitants. All patients seen by the CRRRI participants in their usual practice between March 2008 and December 2010 for inflammatory polyarthralgia, mono-, oligo-, or polyarthritis of less than 1year duration were included. Patients’ serum samples were screened for the presence of anti-hepatitis C virus (HCV) antibodies, with positive samples further evaluated for HCV-RNA with a reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction, and for the presence of hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection.
Results |
Two hundred and thirty-three patients were included (162 women, 71 men; mean age of 50.6±15.8years). Patients were evaluated for inflammatory polyarthralgia (n=51), monoarthritis (n=21), oligoarthritis (n=35) or polyarthritis (n=126) lasting for a mean 19.8±29.8weeks. No new HCV or HBV infection diagnosis was done.
Conclusion |
In this study not suffering from a hospital-selection bias, screening for hepatitis C and B infection was not helpful in the diagnosis process of recent-onset arthritis.
Key messages |
Systematic hepatitis B and C serology is not relevant in patients with recent-onset (<1year) arthritis.
Le texte complet de cet article est disponible en PDF.Keywords : Arthritis, Diagnosis, Hepatitis C, Hepatitis B, Screening
Plan
Vol 79 - N° 3
P. 268-270 - mai 2012 Retour au numéro
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