ESR

Injury	Disease	Nutrition	Poison

Symptoms	Surgery	Test	Special Topic

Overview

Risks

Results

ESR

Alternative Names:

Erythrocyte sedimentation rate; Sed rate; Sedimentation rate

Normal Values:

Adults (Westergren method):

Men under 50 years old: less than 15 mm/hr.
Men over 50 years old: less than 20 mm/hr.
Women under 50 years old: less than 20 mm/hr.
Women over 50 years old: less than 30 mm/hr.

Children (Westergren method):

Newborn: 0 to 2 mm/hr.
Neonatal to puberty: 3 to 13 mm/hr.

Note: mm/hr. = millimeters per hour.

What abnormal results mean:

Elevated values occur with:

Kidney disease
Pregnancy
Rheumatic fever
Rheumatoid arthritis
Severeanemia
Syphilis
Systemic lupus erythematosus
Thyroid disease
Tuberculosis
Other inflammatory conditions

Markedly elevated values occur with:

Giant cell arteritis
Multiple myeloma
Macroglobulinemia - primary
Hyperfibrinogenemia (elevated fibrinogen levels in the blood)
Necrotizing vasculitis
Polymyalgia rheumatica

Lower-than-normal levels occur with:

Congestive heart failure
Hyperviscosity
Hypofibrinogenemia (decreased fibrinogen levels)
Low plasma protein (due to liver or kidney disease)
Polycythemia
Sickle cell anemia

Additional conditions that may affect test results:

Allergic vasculitis
Atrial myxoma, left
Atrial myxoma, right
Autoimmune hepatitis
Endometritis
Eosinophilic fasciitis
Erysipelas
Juvenile rheumatoid arthritis
Legionnaire's disease
Osteomyelitis
Pelvic inflammatory disease (PID)
Pericarditis, post-MI
Retroperitoneal fibrosis
Skin lesion of blastomycosis
Subacute thyroiditis
Systemic sclerosis (scleroderma)

Review Date: 4/20/2005
Reviewed By: Stanford Peng, M.D., Ph.D., Division of Rheumatology, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO. Review provided by VeriMed Healthcare Network.

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