Lupus Forum - Significance of ANA Titer?

Conditions and Diseases > Lupus Forum > Significance of ANA Titer?

Q: Significance of ANA Titer?

asked by: GoldenKatie on July 3rd, 2008

New User

I have several signs of lupus:
. ANA of 1:160 - speckled pattern
. A VERY large amount of protein in urine (creatinine ratio = 888.9 when it should be less than 30.
. Significant joint pain
. A rash on the face that I'm not sure is or is not lupus related.

Additional blood tests have recently been completed, but I won't get those results until July 30th. (Complement C3 and C4)

My question is - "How significant is an ANA result of 1:160? I know that not everyone who has a positive ANA test has lupus. But I guess my question is - is 1:160 just a slightly elevated result or is it moderately elevated or?? How signficant is a result of 1:160? g2r

Replies(1)

newtolupus

replied on July 14th, 2008

New User

My understanding is that most labs consider a titer of 1:80 and higher positive. My rheumatologist told me that most lupus patients have an ANA of 1:1280 or higher. As an aside, I've also learned that a lot of labs use machine testing, and a speckled pattern can be diffcult for the machines to read so they can result in an inaccurate negative or lower reading.
I think with lupus, the higher the titer the greater the indication that it is in fact SLE, as opposed to other possibilities. Bottome line is that it is used as an idicator - the next round of lab tests should be telling in terms of a diagnosis.

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