Rheumatoid Arthritis in the Elderly
A. Yaretzky, J. Feldman, P. Alterman, B. Finkeltov
Dept. of Geriatric Medicine and Rheumatology Clinic, Meir Hospital, Kfar Saba and Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv University
Opinions differ as to whether late onset rheumatoid arthritis (RA) represents a clinical subset and whether age at onset involves differences in therapy and prognosis. In this retrospective study we compared 23 patients with early onset RA (average onset 52.8 years; 91.3% of them women), with 36 with late onset (average onset 70.3 years; 67% of them women). No statistically significant differences were found as to demographic, clinical, laboratory or radiographic characteristics.