Elderly-onset rheumatoid arthritis — clinical findings and treatment features (systematic literature review)

Background. Elderly-onset rheumatoid arthritis ­(EORA) is characterized by the disease onset after 60 years. Gi­ven the importance of the global increase in the proportion of older people in the population and the potential consequences, the problem of diagnosis and treatment of EORA is quite relevant. Purpose: to analyze the current literature data on the peculiarities of the clinical picture, differential diagnosis, and treatment of patients with EORA, taking into account comorbidity. Materials and methods. An analytical review of literature data was conducted using information analysis of the databases PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus, and Google Scholar for the period 2013–2023, but it did not exclude key works that were published earlier, using the keywords “elderly-onset rheumatoid arthritis”, “rheumatoid arthritis”, “diagnosis”, “treatment”, “prognosis”. Results. A review of the lite­rature demonstrated that while previous studies have mainly argued that EORA is a milder form of the disease with a favorable prognosis, recent studies have shown greater disease activity and severity, as well as worse clinical, functional, and radiological outcomes. Despite recent advances in the understanding of RA pathogenesis and new treatment strategies, there is still controversy regarding the management of EORA patients. Clinical practice shows that most patients with EORA are prescribed purely nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAID) and glucocorticoids (GC) without the addition of disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARD). Real-world data have demonstrated that the treatment of elderly patients with RA is often unsatisfactory due to concerns about the possible side effects of DMARD, the presence of comorbidities, polypharmacy, and cognitive dysfunction in elderly patients. Conclusions. EORA presents a unique clinical profile, such patients require individualized treatment strategies, mandatory addition or switch to DMARD based on disease activity, comorbidities, and safety considerations to optimize treatment outcomes and minimize GC and NSAIDs intake, thereby improving the quality of treatment of elderly patients.