RESUMO
BACKGROUND: In general, patients are referred for rheumatological evaluation due to isolated laboratory abnormalities, especially antinuclear antibody (ANA) positivity, with the risk of more severe patients remaining on the waiting list for longer than desired. The aim of this study was to analyze the demographic, clinical, and laboratory information of patients referred to a specialized rheumatological care unit because of positive antinuclear antibody. METHODS: This is a retrospective study of 99 out of 1670 patients seen by the same rheumatologist between 01/01/2011 and 01/01/2019. Patients whose referrals were exclusively due to the ANA test result and the specialist's final diagnosis being "abnormal finding of serum immunological test" (ICD-10 R769) were included. Sociodemographic, clinical, and laboratory information were extracted from the consulting rheumatologist's chart. Descriptive statistics were used for data analysis. RESULTS: A total of 99 patients were included, most of whom were female (84.8%) with a median age of 49 years. At the moment of specialist's appointment, 97 patients (97.9%) repeated the ANA test, and 77 patients remained positive. Of these, only 35 (35.35%) were in a high titer range (greater than or equal to 1:320). Complete blood count for cytopenia's investigation was not performed in a high percentage of patients (22.2%), as well as urinalysis (31.3%). In addition, more than 70% of patients score 0 to 1 classification criteria for Systemic Lupus Erythematosus, according to SLE - ACR 1987 (American College of Rheumatology) and SLICC 2012 (Systemic Lupus International Collaborating Clinics). CONCLUSIONS: Most patients are still referred for specialized evaluation due to the misinterpretation of laboratory tests that were inappropriately requested in patients without clinical evidence of autoimmune rheumatic disease.
Assuntos
Anticorpos Antinucleares , Encaminhamento e Consulta , Humanos , Anticorpos Antinucleares/sangue , Feminino , Masculino , Pessoa de Meia-Idade , Estudos Transversais , Brasil , Estudos Retrospectivos , Adulto , Doenças Reumáticas/diagnóstico , Reumatologia , Lúpus Eritematoso Sistêmico/diagnóstico , Lúpus Eritematoso Sistêmico/sangue , Lúpus Eritematoso Sistêmico/imunologia , IdosoRESUMO
OBJECTIVES: The objective of this study was to evaluate the frequency of human papillomavirus (HPV) in the oral cavity of women with and without abnormal cervical cytology and to determine whether there is an association of oral HPV infection with infection of the cervix or with cervical cancer precursor lesions. METHODS: The present study was conducted among 406 women, aged 18-82 years, who attended the Prevention Department of Barretos Cancer Hospital (HCB), Brazil due to a previous altered cervical cytology result. Oral rinse, cervical cytology and biopsy were collected at the same day. The participants also answered a questionnaire about socioeconomic characteristics and risk factors for cervical cancer. Molecular screening for HPV16, HPV18 and 12 other high-risk HPV types was performed on cervical and oral rinse specimens using Cobas 4800 (Roche Molecular Systems, USA). RESULTS: HPV was detected in the oral rinse of 3.9% of participants. Infection of the oral cavity with a non-HPV16 or 18 type was most frequent (81.2%), followed by HPV16 (18.7%). Infection with HPV in the cervix and oral cavity was present in 11 (2.7%) of participants. There were no differences observed in the smoking status (p value 0.62), mean age of first sexual intercourse (p value 0.25), mean age of the first oral sex (p value 0.90) or mean lifetime number of sexual partners (p value 0.08) between the participants with oral HPV infection or not. CONCLUSION: The presence of HPV infection in the oral cavity was low in the group of women with abnormal cervical cancer screening findings and a high rate of cervical HPV infection.