[Rheumatoid arthritis in people of advanced age]

The special position occupied by rheumatoid arthritis in people of advanced age was studied by drawing on a sample of 39 patients who had developed the disease at the age of sixty and over. In the majority of patients the disease was of acute and monoarticular onset, and the pattern of involvement was more often asymmetrical than in younger patients. In three patients the disease followed a fulminant course. The radiological differential diagnosis was complicated primarily by underlying osteoporosis and concomittant degenerative changes. Laboratory tests produced no significant differences compared with the "classic" form of rheumatoid arthritis. Only the percentage of serologically negative patients was slightly increased. Emphasis is put on the difficult differential diagnosis, especially in cases where the onset of the disease is monoarticular.