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Erythrocyte sedimentation rate; Sed rate; Sedimentation rate

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.

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

• 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
• 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: 04/20/2005
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.