[The levels of FDP, FDP-E and D-dimer in patients with rheumatoid arthritis]

We studied the relationship of FDP and D-dimer levels of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients with their activities of RA. We evaluated FDP/D-dimer levels of thirty-six RA patients. And we also evaluated FDP/D-dimer levels of 14 patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and 12 patients with other rheumatic diseases as control. RA patients were divided into two groups according to their activities. Nineteen patients, who fulfilled at least three of four activities criteria, were classified as active group [RA (A) group], and other 17 patients were classified as not-active group [RA (B) group]. FDP and D-dimer levels of RA patients were higher than those of SLE or other patients group significantly (P < 0.01). Furthermore, in RA patients, high levels of FDP and D-dimer were observed in RA (A) group compared to RA (B) group. In some RA patients, decrease of FDP and D-dimer levels were observed according to their RA activities. FDP and D-dimer levels were not correlated with the level of rheumatoid factor (RF). These results show that the FDP and D-dimer levels were elevated according to RA activity in RA patients.