What is an ANA profile test?

What is an ANA profile test?

What is an ANA (antinuclear antibody) test? An ANA test looks for antinuclear antibodies in your blood. If the test finds antinuclear antibodies in your blood, it may mean you have an autoimmune disorder. An autoimmune disorder causes your immune system to attack your own cells, tissues, and/or organs by mistake.

How do you read ANA results?

Your test is positive if it finds antinuclear antibodies in your blood. A negative result means it found none. A positive test doesn’t mean that you have an autoimmune condition. Between 3\% and 15\% of people with no conditions have antinuclear antibodies.

What does an ANA of 1 160 mean?

Titers ≥ 1:160 usually indicate the presence of active SLE, although occasionally other autoimmune disease may induce these high titers. There are now known groups of ANA-negative lupus patients.

What does an ANA test look for?

An ANA test looks for antinuclear antibodies in your blood. If the test finds antinuclear antibodies in your blood, it may mean you have an autoimmune disorder. An autoimmune disorder causes your immune system to attack your own cells, tissues, and/or organs by mistake.

How long does it take for an ANA to be positive?

UP TO 10 YEARS before they actually develop the disease. Cancer and infections can also cause someone to have a positive ANA. It can even be positive when people are taking certain medications. Not terribly helpful right? So someone runs an ANA just because and it’s positive.

What percentage of healthy people have Ana 1?

ANA 1:160 is found in 5\% of healthy people ANA 1:320 is found in 3\% of healthy people 5 – 25\% of healthy people with a family member suffering from lupus have a positive ANA Up to 70\% of people aged above 70 years have a positive ANA

Should I talk to my doctor about my Ana result?

ANA titers can also increase with age among healthy people, so it’s important to talk to your doctor about your symptoms and what your result means to you. If your primary doctor ordered the test, they may recommend a referral to a rheumatologist — an autoimmune disease specialist — to review any abnormal ANA results.