Abstract:

Objective: The C-reactive protein (CRP)-albumin (ALB) ratio (CAR) has emerged as a novel inflammatory biomarker. The aim of this study was to evaluate the clinical significance of CAR in psoriatic arthritis (PsA) patients. Materials and Methods: The study included 76 PsA patients and 48 healthy controls. After obtaining informed consent from the patients and controls, demographic information, clinical and laboratory findings at admission, neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio (NLR), monocyte/lymphocyte ratio (MLR), platelet/lymphocyte ratio (PLR) and C-reactive protein/albumin (CAR) were recorded. The PASI score, a PsA-specific measure of skin involvement, and the number of swollen-tender joints were used as measures of disease activity in PsA. The correlation between CAR and markers of disease activity (number of swollen-tender joints, PASI) and traditional acute phase reactants [erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), C-reactive protein (CRP)] were analyzed. Results: CAR was significantly higher in PsA patients than in the healthy group (p<0.001). PLR, CAR, MLR, ESR and CRP values were statistically significantly higher in the patient group compared to the control group (p<0.001, except ESR, P=0.007, respectively). There was a statistically significant association between CAR and PLR, MLR, ESR, CRP values and number of swollen-tender joints in PsA patients. ROC curve analysis showed that the area under the curve (AUC) of CAR for the PsA group was 0.701. When the CAR optimal cut-off point ≥0.76 was accepted, the sensitivity level was 64.5% and the specificity level was 64.6%. Conclusion: CAR may be useful in daily practice as a simple and rapid assessment method to evaluate inflammation in PsA.

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