"If you don’t have a positive rheumatoid factor or anti-CCP [anti–cyclic citrullinated peptide] antibodies, you have to have more than 10 clinically involved joints to get to a score of 6. So we make the diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis clinically and by listening to the patients and examining them, but antibodies are the icing on the cake. They’re a very, very important piece. And higher titers are specific for rheumatoid arthritis. A high-titer anti-CCP antibody level makes it very unlikely that it’s a false-positive test," the rheumatologist said.
He reported having no financial conflicts.