Sedimentation Rate

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Medical Author:

William C. Shiel Jr., MD, FACP, FACR

William C. Shiel Jr., MD, FACP, FACR

Dr. Shiel received a Bachelor of Science degree with honors from the University of Notre Dame. There he was involved in research in radiation biology and received the Huisking Scholarship. After graduating from St. Louis University School of Medicine, he completed his Internal Medicine residency and Rheumatology fellowship at the University of California, Irvine. He is board-certified in Internal Medicine and Rheumatology.

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Medical Editor:

Melissa Conrad Stöppler, MD, Chief Medical Editor

Melissa Conrad Stöppler, MD, Chief Medical Editor

Melissa Conrad Stöppler, MD, is a U.S. board-certified Anatomic Pathologist with subspecialty training in the fields of Experimental and Molecular Pathology. Dr. Stöppler's educational background includes a BA with Highest Distinction from the University of Virginia and an MD from the University of North Carolina. She completed residency training in Anatomic Pathology at Georgetown University followed by subspecialty fellowship training in molecular diagnostics and experimental pathology.

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• Sedimentation Rate Overview
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• Read more on Sedimentation Rate from Healthwise

A sedimentation rate is common blood test that is used to detect and monitor inflammation in the body. The sedimentation rate is also called the erythrocyte sedimentation rate because it is a measure of the speed that the red blood cells (erythrocytes) in a tube of blood fall to the bottom of the tube, or sediment. Sedimentation rate is often abbreviated as sed rate or ESR.

Doctors use the sedimentation rate to help to determine if inflammation is present in the patient. Additionally, the sedimentation rate can be a convenient method of monitoring the progress of treatment of diseases that are characterized by inflammation. Accordingly, a high sedimentation rate would correlate with more disease activity while a low sedimentation rate would suggest that the disease is less active.

Examples of diseases that are commonly monitored with the sedimentation rate test include:

• rheumatoid arthritis,
  
  
• systemic lupus erythematosus,
  
  
• abscesses,
  
  
• psoriatic arthritis,
  
  
• septic arthritis,
  
  
• vasculitis,
  
  
• reactive arthritis,
  
  
• polymyalgia rheumatica, and
  
  
• polymyositis.

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