Antinuclear Antibodies: A demographic profile from a Tertiary Healthcare Centre of Delhi

Background: Anti-nuclear autoantibodies (ANA), have explicitly been linked to immune complex-mediated autoimmune diseases. Detection and quantitation of autoantibodies are therefore crucial in the diagnosis and treatment. Objectives: This study aims to evaluate the demographic profile of patients with ANA positivity in a tertiary health care Centre in Delhi, India. Patients and methods: A total of 938 samples of suspected patients were analyzed over a period of three years from February 2020 to February 2023 for the presence of antinuclear antibodies. Serum ANA levels were measured by ELISA. The data were collected retrospectively and analyzed using SPSS v 23 (IBM Corp.) software. Results: A total of 104 (11.09%) samples were positive for ANA. Females constituted the majority 84(80.77%) of the total positive samples. Females in the age group of 21 to 40 years showed the highest ANA positivity. Maximum autoimmune disease suspected samples were received from the Medicine Department, followed by Dermatology, Ophthalmology, and Orthopedics departments.58.6% (61 out of 104) of the samples received were from the Indoor patient Department (IPD) as compared to 41.34% (43out of 104) from Outdoor patient department (OPD ) (P =0.4592). Conclusion: Regular follow up of patients with positive ANA might be beneficial for early detection of the related autoimmune conditions. However, more long term follow up studies are needed to support this hypothesis.