Key clinical point: Patients with late-onset rheumatoid arthritis (LORA; disease onset at ≥60 years) had poor control of inflammation after diagnosis compared with those with young-onset RA (YORA), with late onset being associated with a greater cumulative inflammatory burden over time.
Major finding: Moderate-high inflammatory activity (P = .018) was more frequent in LORA vs YORA. The median C-reactive protein (P = .039) and interleukin-6 (P = .045) levels at onset were significantly higher in patients with LORA vs YORA, and late-onset was significantly associated with a high cumulative inflammatory activity of RA (odds ratio 4.694; P = .008).
Study details: This was a nested cohort study of a prospective cohort including 110 patients with incident RA (LORA n = 22; YORA n = 88) and 110 age- and sex-matched control individuals.
Disclosures: This study was supported by grants from Fondos FEDER, University of Malaga, and other sources. The authors declared no conflicts of interest.
Source: Mena-Vázquez N et al. Inflammatory profile of incident cases of late-onset compared with young-onset rheumatoid arthritis: A nested cohort study. Front Med (Lausanne). 2022;9:1016159 (Nov 8). Doi: 10.3389/fmed.2022.1016159