Difficult-to-Treat Rheumatoid Arthritis in Older Adults: Implications of Ageing for Managing Patients

AbstractDifficult-to-treat rheumatoid arthritis is a heterogeneous term in which patients may present with difficulties in their management for different reasons. This can ultimately lead to patients being exposed to multiple treatments because of inefficacy (resulting from mechanisms intrinsic to rheumatoid arthritis or from non-inflammatory causes such as chronic pain syndrome or structural damage, among others), toxicity or adverse effects that may be linked to comorbidities. One particular group in which such characteristics may be more patent is older patients. Increasing life expectancy, an ageing population and the late onset of rheumatoid arthritis have led to an increased interest in the particularities of treating older patients. This may pose a challenge for physicians, as ageing has implications for optimal patient treatment owing to the potential presence of comorbidities, the risk of adverse events and perceptions of disease status by both physicians and patients. All of these factors may have implications for classifying and managing patients aged>  65 years as difficult-to-treat rheumatoid arthritis, as these patients could be misclassified. This can occur when a significant proportion may still exhibit signs of active disease but not necessarily be difficult to treat because the treatment criterion has not been fulfilled. Alternatively, pat ients may be exposed to multiple biologic/targeted disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs because of contraindication...
Source: Drugs and Aging - Category: Geriatrics Source Type: research