[Disease activity and therapeutic strategy of patients with late-onset rheumatoid arthritis].

Abstract To compare the disease activity and therapeutic strategy of late-onset rheumatoid arthritis (LORA) with young-onset rheumatoid arthritis (YORA). Medical records of 259 patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) were reviewed retrospectively. The cut-off between LORA and YORA was operationally set at 60 years of age at disease onset. Gender ratio, disease duration, feature of involved joint, extra-articular features, laboratory features, disease activity score and treatment strategy were compared between LORA and YORA. The LORA patients had a gender ratio (male/female) of 1/1.88, which was approaching 1/1 in the older age group. It took longer for LORA to be diagnosed than YORA (P