Determination of anti-CCP antibodies in patients with suspected rheumatoid arthritis: does it help to predict the diagnosis before referral to a rheumatologist?

Prognosis in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) depends critically on early diagnosis and timely treatment with immune modulating drugs. As a consequence, early referral and access of patients with suspected RA to rheumatologists is mandatory for the establishment of diagnosis and initiation of treatment. Measurement of antibodies to cyclic citrullinated peptide (CCP) is a new and highly specific test for the diagnosis of RA. Detection of anti-CCP antibodies—in particular, if the second generation of anti-CCP2 tests is used—has been shown to be of prognostic significance and to be helpful in early diagnosis of RA.1–9 The goal of this work was to investigate whether the measurement of anti-CCP antibodies alone or in combination with easily determinable parameters of a patient’s complaints and routine laboratory tests might help to identify prospectively patients with a high probability for RA. For this …