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Updated: Aug 14, 2026
Determining the Reactivity and Titre of Serum using a Haemagglutination Assay
Published on: January 29, 2010
In the era of nephelometry, latex agglutination is still good enough to detect rheumatoid factor
Venugopalan Anuradha1, Arvind Chopra
1Center for Rheumatic Diseases, Pune, India. crdp@vsnl.net
Objective:
To compare quantitative nephelometry to the traditional semiquantitative latex agglutination (LAT) test for rheumatoid factor (RF).
Methods:
We evaluated 564 patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and 155 controls using both techniques. The cutoff value of 40 IU/ml was established for a positive RF result.
Results:
Sensitivity of LAT and nephelometry was 85.5% and 88.3%, respectively. Both techniques had a similar specificity and a positive predictive value exceeding 95%. Agreement (kappa = 0.86) and correlation (0.87) between the 2 methods were significant.
Conclusion:
In routine practice, and particularly in developing countries such as India, LAT can still be the preferred method for RF determination.
