Up to 15% of people may have a positive ANA titer blood test, but not have the signs or symptoms of an autoimmune disease. Many medical providers will request a second test to confirm the positive results from the first test. Up to 95% of people who are eventually diagnosed with lupus, for example, have the first step of the diagnostic process be a positive ANA titer blood test. Additional testing is usually performed as a follow-up to help determine what specific disease may be present. What Do My Test Results Mean?Ī positive ANA titer blood test indicates the presence of an autoimmune disease. It can help a medical provider know the seriousness of an individual’s condition and begin to formulate a treatment plan. That’s why the ANA titer blood test is so important. The symptoms of an autoimmune disease are difficult to diagnose because they are so similar to other conditions. Cell destruction could be occurring within the organs, central nervous system, or even within the blood cells themselves. That’s why having unexplained inflammation, a butterfly-shaped rash across the face, a low-grade fever, and other feelings of generally feeling unwell should be checked on if they continue in a prolonged fashion. This response is usually triggered by an invading organism, but with an autoimmune disease, it malfunctions and is triggered to attack parts of a person’s body instead.Īny part of the body can be attacked by this kind of immune system response. These antibodies are proteins that are only made when the body initiates an immune response. This is used to determine the possibility of an autoimmune disease being present. The ANA (antinuclear antibody) titer blood test is used to measure the amount of ANA that happens to be in the blood.