seronegative? | Arthritis Information

Share
 

I think I am confused about what that means. Can someone tell me?

 
Thanks! Hope you are all having a great day!
Is it the same as testing negative for RA in your blood?

From NRAS UK:

The rheumatoid factor.

The RF is an auto-antibody found in the blood of patients with rheumatoid arthritis. It can also be found in the blood of patients with other inflammatory diseases and also in some normal individuals, particularly the elderly. Thus, the presence of RF does not indicate the presence of rheumatoid arthritis. (Equally you can be diagnosed with Rheumatoid Arthritis and not have the RF factor present in your blood - sero-negative). Under some circumstances healthy individuals with rheumatoid factor may go on, after a variable number of years which may be as long as 20, to develop rheumatoid arthritis. There is no way of predicting whether an individual who has RF in their blood will or will not go on to develop rheumatoid arthritis.

Thanks, that is what I thought. 
 
Are there any young people out there with a positive rheumatoid factor? I always wonder if I am seronegative because  I am young. My mom was always seronegative until she got older.
Most (not all) JRAers are seronegative. I think it's more common than not. In a nutshell, it means that the blood tests, such as RA factor tests, do not show that you have RA. It is confirmed but other factors such as X-rays as well as, basically, "what it is not".  Good luck.  That's what mine is .  I have had 4 different types of blood tests for RA with negative results but my xrays show bone erosion. I don't know if you can be young and positive, but I do know that you can be old and negative!!!  I'm 44 and sero-negative.Katie, I figured as much. Kind of disapointing though.Yeah, it means you are negative for Rheumatoid Factor. Me seroneg too. There seem to be a lot of us. 
Copyright ArthritisInsight.com