ABSTRACT. Objectives: To investigate the occurence of various autoantibodies in the Omani population. Method: Sera from 392 healthy Omani individuals comprising 183 pregnant women and 209 blood donors (183 men and 26 women) were investigated. Autoanti- bodies were detected using immunofluorescence, haemagglutination and latex agglutination techniques. Result: Low levels of autoan- tibodies were detected in approximately 50% of the subjects; very few subjects showed high autoantibody titres. Anti smooth muscle autoantibodies (ASMA) were the most prevalent, and were detected in 31.6% of the individuals. Anti thyroid microsomal autoantibodies (ATMA) and anti thyroglobulin autoantibodies (ATA) were present in 5.9% and 4.9% of individuals respectively. The other autoantibodies were detected much less frequently, viz. anti nuclear autoantibodies (ANA) in 1.5%, anti parietal cells autoantibodies (APCA) in 1.8%, anti reticulin autoantibodies patterns (ARAP) in 3.0% and rheumatoid factor (RF) in 1.0% of the subjects. Conclusion: The data indicate that autoantibodies do exist in healthy Omani individuals and the results of clinical tests for these autoantibodies must be interpreted with caution

ABSTRACT. Objectives: To investigate the occurence of various autoantibodies in the Omani population. Method: Sera from 392 healthy Omani individuals comprising 183 pregnant women and 209 blood donors (183 men and 26 women) were investigated. Autoanti- bodies were detected using immunofluorescence,...