Seropositive Rheumatoid Arthritis

**Semantic type:** Disease or Syndrome

**Definition:** Rheumatoid arthritis in which a patient's serum is positive for certain disease-related antibodies including anti-cyclic citrullinated peptides (anti-CCPs), also called anti-citrullinated protein antibodies (ACPAs),and rheumatoid factor (RF). Screening for anti-CCPs is more specific than RF which can be found in other pathologic conditions. The production of these disease-associated antibodies may precede the development of clinical symptoms by several years. Seropositive patients have a greater likelihood of developing extra-articular complications and a more severe course of disease.