Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is the most common form of inflammatory arthritis in adults and is characterized by chronic, progressive, systemic inflammation. Interleukin-17 (IL-17) is a cytokine that is expressed in inflammatory and autoimmune diseases and is expected to play an important role in the pathogenesis of RA. Since many years, the measurement of disease activity in RA has been done by Disease Activity Score-28 (DAS-28). Regarding the correlation between serum level of IL-17 and disease activity, some authors found a good significant correlation between these parameters, while others stated that DAS-28 values for expressing disease activity in RA patients may be flawed by coexisting fibromyalgia lead to higher total scores. Disability assessment in RA patients has usually been assessed by Health Assessment Questionnaire - Disability Index (HAQ-DI) and it is one of the most widely used comprehensive, validated, patient-oriented outcome assessment instruments.

The study included 25 premenopausal RA patients and 20 healthy subjects. Serum IL-17 was assessed by ELISA, disease activity by DAS-28 CRP and functional disability by HAQ-DI.

Serum IL-17 is increased among RA patients but it has no correlation with disease activity and functional disability in premenopausal RA patients.