Society guideline links: Antinuclear antibodies

Introduction — This topic includes links to society and government-sponsored guidelines from selected countries and regions around the world. We will update these links periodically; newer versions of some guidelines may be available on each society's website. Some societies may require users to log in to access their guidelines.

The recommendations in the following guidelines may vary from those that appear in UpToDate topic reviews. Readers who are looking for UpToDate topic reviews should use the UpToDate search box to find the relevant content.

International

●International Consensus on Antinuclear Antibody Patterns (ICAP): Recommendation – Perspective on clinical relevance of HEp-2 indirect immunofluorescent patterns (2019)

●ICAP: Guidelines and recommendations – Definition of the AC-29 pattern associated with antibodies to DNA topoisomerase I (2018)

●International recommendations for the assessment of autoantibodies to cellular antigens referred to as anti-nuclear antibodies (2014)

Canada

●Choosing Wisely Canada: Don't order ANA as a screening test in patients without specific signs or symptoms of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) or another connective tissue disease (CTD) (2019)

●BC Guidelines: Antinuclear antibody (ANA) testing protocol (2013)

United States

●American College of Rheumatology (ACR): Position statement on methodology of testing for antinuclear antibodies (2019)

●Choosing Wisely: Do not order antinuclear antibody (ANA) and other autoantibody testing on a child unless there is strong suspicion or specific signs of autoimmune disease (2019)

●Choosing Wisely: Don't order autoantibody panels unless positive antinuclear antibodies (ANA) and evidence of rheumatic disease (2013)

●Choosing Wisely: Don't repeat a confirmed positive ANA in patients with established JIA or systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) (2013)

●Choosing Wisely: Don't test ANA sub-serologies without a positive ANA and clinical suspicion of immune-mediated disease (2013)

United Kingdom

●Choosing Wisely UK: British Society of Rheumatology – C3, C4 and dsDNA are important tests to help in the diagnosis and assessment of disease activity in lupus. They should be reserved for specialist monitoring of disease activity and should be avoided as screening tests (2016)

●Choosing Wisely UK: British Society of Rheumatology – Testing ANA and ENAs should be reserved for patients suspected to have a diagnosis of a connective tissue disease, e.g. lupus. Testing ANA and ENAs should be avoided in the investigation of widespread pain or fatigue alone. Repeat testing is not normally indicated unless the clinical picture changes significantly (2016)

Australia–New Zealand

●Choosing Wisely Australia: Do not order antinuclear antibody (ANA) testing without symptoms and/or signs suggestive of a systemic rheumatic disease (2018)