Vol. 7, Issue 1, Part B (2025)

Introduction: Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is an inflammatory disorder affecting a wide variety of joints throughout the body. It damages the bone and cartilage in affected joints and causes chronic inflammation of the synovial membrane. Higher rates of sickness and mortality and lower quality of life are associated with the pain, loss of function, and permanent disability.

Aim: The objective of this study is to examine the results in individuals with RA and Osteoarthritis (OA) in order to determine the clinical significance of measuring blood IL-18 in relation to disease activity.

Methods: Forty participants with RA, twenty participants with OA, and twenty healthy individuals had their blood levels of Interleukin (IL-18) analyzed. From April to August 2023, samples were collected from the rheumatology department of Baghdad Medical City Teaching Hospital. For testing IL-18 level, an ELISA technique is used in the Immunological Department/Teaching Laboratories.

Results: The study found that RA patients had an average age of 46.75 years (±12.35 years), with only 20% having a family history of the disease and a male to female ratio of around 1:4. The serological results showed that RA patients had significantly higher levels of IL-18. A high correlation of 0.691 was found between IL-18 blood levels and RA disease activity.

Conclusion: Compared to healthy controls, RA patients had significantly higher levels of serum IL-18. And serum IL-18 levels were significantly associated with RA disease activity. This suggests that IL-18 may be a useful indicator of the severity of an illness.