Can anyone help with these blood results?

[Miaowmi]

Sorry for a dull post! I was just wondering if anyone could help me in decoding these blood results? I had an ANA (Anti Nuclear Antibodies) test which has come back positive, with a titre of 1/1280. I'm aware of what the ANA is for, but does anyone know what the titre means and is that particularly low or high?

I had a call with the GP earlier, but they didn't know either! ;)

A high titre would be around 1:160. That is exceptionally high, so likely to be wrong.

ANA isn’t specific and can be affected by many things, so the test is of little value in isolation. It needs to added into the clinical picture and even then is only one indicator.

@Miaowmi does it then give a description after the score? That can sometimes give more of an idea other than the numbers. I also found that when mine came back positive they ran another load of tests on that sample to see if anything else came up (which it did) and I was referred to a rheumatologist.

There's something called ENA which seems to be run on the same test. Some bits of that are positive, some are negative!

What I can tell about the titre is it's like, each time multiplied by 2? So 1/40, 1/80, 1/160, 1/320, 1/640, 1/1280, etc. But what I'm not sure is, would 1/1280 be, like, worse or better than 1/320? I had this done previously (2 years ago) and at that time it was 1/320.

I am not a medical person but I found this online....

A ratio of 1:640 or greater indicates a high possibility of autoimmune disorder, but results will need to be analyzed by a doctor and additional tests performed to draw a conclusion. However, a positive result doesn't always mean that you have an autoimmune disease.

Ah, okay, thank you. That's helpful!

Does this endixate lupus and other auto immune diseases?
But that is very high. Are they repeating it?

I'm not too sure! She says she has to check with someone what to do. (The GP, that is.)

@Miaowmi mine is 1/320 and I have Ro antibodies but have no symptoms of an active autoimmune issue. I asked to be tested after a miscarriage and glad I did as they needed to monitor my babies heart rate in my latest pregnancy as the Ro antibodies can be a problem. Your gp should be able to explain the next steps. I've been told I only need to go back if I start to have any symptoms

I have the Ro antibodies too. And La and Sm ones? I'm a bit clueless about it though! Glad that they were able to help, I never heard of the antibodies being harmful in relation to pregnancy

@Miaowmi you have to watch the Ro ones as they can, in very rare cases cause heart block in the baby. We were referred to the fetal cardiac unit and had 3 scans during pregnancy. I chose (and with the blessing of my consultant) to monitor the babies heart twice a day at home as things can change in 12 hours and if caught early they can give steroids to try and help minimise risk. I have always been a worrier ans this was my own choice to reduce my anxiety. All was well and I have a healthy 13 month old. She did get an ecg before we were allowed home from hospital, just to check she was really ok