Frequency and Levels of Autoantibodies in Healthy Adult Omanis

Abstract

Background: A previous pilot study showed a high frequency of anti-smooth muscle autoantibody in Omani blood donors and pregnant women. We conducted this larger-scale study to investigate the frequency and significance of several autoantibodies in healthy individuals from different regions of Oman. Methods: Sera obtained from 1537 healthy Omanis (1153 males and 384 females), ranging in age from 18 to 57 years, were tested for the presence of ten different autoantibodies using indirect immunofluorescence, haemagglutination and latex agglutination techniques. Results: Low levels of autoantibodies were detected in 33.5%, whereas a few individuals (1.8%) showed high autoantibody titres. Anti-smooth muscle autoantibodies (ASMA) were the most prevalent (11%). Anti-nuclear autoantibodies (ANA) were the second most prevalent (7.6%). Anti-thyroid microsomal autoantibodies (ATMA) and anti-thyroglobulin autoantibodies (ATA) were present in 6.5% and 4.4% of individuals, respectively. The other autoantibodies were detected much less frequently: anti-parietal cells autoantibodies (APCA) were found in 1.6%, anti-brush border antibodies (ABBA) in 1.3%, anti-reticulin autoantibodies (ARA) in 1%, antimitochondrial antibodies (AMA) in 0.8%, antiglomerular basement membrane antibodies (AGBMA) in 0.7% and rheumatoid factor (RF) in 0.4%. Conclusion:The data indicate that autoantibodies are present in healthy Omani individuals, and therefore caution should be taken when interpreting laboratory results of patients suspected of having autoimmune disease. Ann Saudi Med 23 (6):372-375

Frequency of Abnormal Thyroid Function Tests in Kuwaiti Arabs with Autoimmune Diseases

“…However, the frequency of thyroid antibodies in Kuwaiti healthy individuals in our study was low compared with the 12.4% found by O'Leary et al [27] among Australians and 5.7% among Omanis reported by Al-Jabri et al [17] . The reason for these discrepancies can not be explained clearly, but it may be due to ethnic differences, and unknown genetic or environmental factors.…”

“…There have been no detailed reports in the literature on the frequency of abnormal thyroid function tests and the presence of thyroid autoantibodies in healthy Kuwaitis or in those with autoimmune diseases other than our previous short report limited to the prevalence of hypothyroidism in patients with RA [16] , but there are detailed reports on other Arabs [17,18] . Therefore, the present study was designed to investigate the frequency of abnormal thyroid function tests in healthy Kuwaiti Arabs and in those with RA, SLE, and pSS.…”

Determination of Anti-Nuclear Antibody Seroprevalence in Adult Age Groups in Trabzon Province

“…Investigation of ANA seroprevalences is important, not only in the identification of autoimmune diseases in societies, but also in revealing subclinical conditions prior to disease, guiding early treatment and monitoring and in establishing the risk factors for these diseases (2). ANA seroprevalences between 4.2% and 22.6% have been reported for different societies (3)(4)(5)(6)(7)(8)(9). However, there are insufficient data regarding the ANA seroprevalence for the Eastern Black Sea region of Turkey, which includes the province of Trabzon, as well as for other regions of the country.…”

Prevalence of Autoantibodies in Healthy Adults in Pakistani Population

“…4% to 13% 20,21,22,23 . ANA has been reported as 7.6% in Omani population 24 and 4.2% in Saudi Arabian population 20 . Baig and Shere (1989) also suggested ANA as four-fold more prevalent in females than in males in Saudi Arabian population, whereas in the current study, there was no difference of ANA between healthy male and females.…”

“…It should be noted that RF a-Abs are frequently present in healthy subjects and can be detected in chronic infections. It have been suggested that RF may have a protective or regulatory role in the immune system 24 . In the current study, 7.4% subjects had anti dsDNA that is higher than 3.3% documented in the Omani population 26 .…”