A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF ERYTHROCYTE SEDIMENTATION RATES OF BLOOD ANTICOAGULATED WITH TRISODIUM CITRATE AND ETHYLENE DIAMINE TETRA ACETIC ACID AMONG PATIENTS WITH MENTAL ILLNESS ATTENDING A TERTIARY CARE PSYCHIATRIC INSTITUTE

Background: An erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) is a nonspecic laboratory investigation, which is not a specic test for diagnosis of any disease. However an increase level of ESR may indicate presence of inammation, infection, rheumatologic disease, or malignancy. For monitoring the test there has been no accepted standard control sample. Studies are available relating to ESR values of different diseases; however no study was performed to compare the ESR values of blood mixed with TSC and EDTA in the study area. So, this study aimed to compare the ESR values of the two commonly used anticoagulants in patients with psychiatric illness. Material And Methods: A cross sectional study was conducted in a tertiary care psychiatric institute of North-East, India during the period of October to December, 2023. A total 100 samples were collected from admitted patients of 25 - 60 years of age with psychiatric illness. Samples were collected in Ethylene Diamine Tetra Acetic Acid (EDTA) and Trisodium Citrate (TSC) anticoagulated vials to determine and compare Erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) by using Westergren method. In this study ESR obtained from bl Results: ood anticoagulated with EDTA shows higher value than the blood anticoagulated with TSC with a mean value of 34.83 mm/hour in EDTA anticoagulated blood as compared to the mean value of 28.14 mm/hour in TSC anticoagulated blood. It shows a difference of 8.03 mm/h with t-value 9.282 which is statistically signicant Present study showed ESR value of blood anticoagulated with EDTA is greater than that of . Conclusion: blood anticoagulated with TSC with a mean difference of 8.03 mm/h among patient with mental illness. The difference between both the anticoagulant for using ESR estimation is statistically signicant. Different reference values may be incorporated for both the anticoagulant (EDTA and TSC) for ESR estimation for accurate report.