Serum Fibrinogen as marker of disease severity in Polymyalgia Rheumatica
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.51253/pafmj.v75iSUPPL-6.4257Keywords:
Fibrinogen, Polymyalgia Rheumatica, severity.Abstract
Objective: To determine the role of serum fibrinogen as marker of disease severity in Polymyalgia Rheumatic.
Study Design: Cross sectional study.
Place and Duration of Study: Rheumatology/General Medicine Department, Pak Emirates Military Hospital, Rawalpindi Pakistan, from Jul 2019 to Feb 2020.
Methodology: Patient of polymyalgia rheumatica who fulfilled diagnostic criteria by European League against Rheumatism (EULAR)/American College of Rheumatology (ACR) published in 2012, for Polymyalgia rheumatica were included in study. fibrinogen levels in serum were determined in all the patients from laboratory of own hospital. Severity of disease was determined on the basis of Polymyalgia rheumatica activity score (PMR-AS) which is used in clinical practice to grade the severity of disease.
Results: Mean age of the study participants was 56.37±3.292 years. 94(39.2%) patients had mild activity disease, 112(46.7%) had moderate while 34(14.2%) had severe activity of illness. 132(55%) had serum fibrinogen levels within normal range while 108(45%) had raised levels of serum fibrinogen. It was revealed that long duration of illness and levels of fibrinogen had a statistically significant association with severity of illness among the patients suffering of polymyalgia rheumatica (p-value <0.05).
Conclusion: Polymyalgia rheumatica is a commonly diagnosed illness in severe forms in the rheumatology/medicine outpatient departments. Raised Serum fibrinogen levels and long duration of polymyalgia rheumatica emerged as strong predictors of presence of severe form of illness among the study participants.
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