Association of Lp(a) with CRP in patients of Rheumatoid Arthritis

Aim: to measure the lp(a) levels and correlating them with cpr levels in patients of rheumatoid arthritis. method: the total number of hundred subjects was included in this study. fifty (25 males and 25 females) diagnosed cases of ra were taken as patient group while fifty (22 males and 28 females) healthy subjects were taken as control group. the samples were collected from ra patients coming to rheumatology opd shaikh zayed hospital lahore. results: the patient group (both males and females) showed significantly higher (p<0.001) crp and lp(a) as compared to the control group (both male and female). pearson co-efficient of correlation of lp(a) was calculated with age,bmi and crp. it was found that lp(a) has a positive correlation with crp in patients of rheumatoid arthritis. conclusion: the ra patients who had raised crp also showed raised lp(a) levels. these patients with raised lp(a) are more prone to develop cardio vascular defects thus lp(a) levels may be integrated and monitored as independent cv risk factor into existing screening tests and follow up of ra patients.