Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is the most common chronic inflammatory rheumatism in adults. The objective of our study was to analyze the clinical, biological and therapeutic characteristics in subjects over 60 years old.
We performed a retrospective, monocentric, descriptive study on medical records consultations. The data collection concerned subjects over 60 years of age who had been diagnosed with "rheumatoid arthritis" in the rheumatology and internal medicine departments of CHU Reims over a period stretching from 2010 to 2015.
Thirty-two patients were included in our study for this period. The mean age of diagnosis was 66.6 years, for a median age of 67.5 years (min: 60 years, max: 88 years). There were 22 female (69%) and 10 male (31%) patients, with a sex ratio H/F of 2.2. The mean duration of symptom progression before diagnosis was 33.2 months. What dominates our series is the inaugural involvement of the interphalangeal proximal, wrists, shoulders and metacarpophalangeal for the vast majority of cases. Oral corticosteroids were used in 27 patients and were the only treatment in 3 patients. Methotrexate (MTX) was introduced in 27 patients. Nine patients received biotherapy: it was tocilizumab (Roactemra®) for 5 patients, adalimumab (Humira®) for 2 patients, abatacept (Orencia®) for 2 patients, etanercept (Enbrel®) for 2 patients, golimumab (Simponi®) for 1 patient and infliximab (Remicade®) for one patient. In our series, 7 patients are over 75 years old at the time of diagnosis of RA.
The rheumatoid arthritis of the elderly remains a common condition and constitutes a diagnostic and therapeutic challenge. Because of the co-morbidities, the clinician's perception of the patient's overall condition and the inaccuracies in the use of certain molecules in these patients, under-treatment may, on the contrary, weaken a patient whose remission will be postponed. This was not the case in our series, with a methodical use of methotrexate as well as effective dose biotherapies.