Aim: The antinuclear antibody (ANA) test is a fundamental screening tool in diagnosing systemic autoimmune rheumatic diseases (SARD). The indirect immunofluorescence (IIF) method is considered the gold standard for detecting ANA, and identifying its patterns is crucial in clinical guidance. This study retrospectively evaluated the positivity rate and distribution of patterns in patients who underwent ANA testing at Başakşehir Çam and Sakura City Hospital Hospital over three years.Material and Methods: Between January 1, 2021, and December 31, 2023, a total of 57,189 samples sent to our laboratory for ANA testing were analyzed using the Euroimmun HEp-2 cell-based IIF kit. The results were evaluated using an automated imaging and analysis system (EUROPattern Suite), and nuclear patterns with a titer of 1:100 or higher were considered ANA positive.Results: Among the 57,189 samples, 7,422 (13%) were ANA positive. The clinics with the highest number of ANA test requests, in order, were general internal medicine (29.5%), rheumatology (20.9%), and general pediatrics (9.3%). The highest positivity rates were observed in rheumatology (23.5%) and pediatric rheumatology (20.6%) departments. Of the positive cases, 83% were female, and 17% were male. The most frequently observed pattern was speckled (28.83%), followed by fine dense speckled (20.32%) and homogeneous (19.60%) patterns.Conclusion: This study provides detailed data from our hospital on ANA test requests, positivity rates, and pattern distributions. We found that both positivity rates and patterns vary by clinical department and patient population. Additionally, we assess whether test requisitions align with patients' clinical presentations and symptoms across different specialties.
Durmuş et al. (Sun,) studied this question.