Gold Therapy in The Elderly Rheumatoid Arthritis Patient

✍ Scribed by Walter F. Kean; Nicholas Bellamy; Peter M. Brooks

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1983
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 651 KB
• Volume: 26
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0004-3591
• DOI: 10.1002/art.1780260602

✦ Synopsis

Forty elderly (260 years old) and 101 young (<60 years old) rheumatoid arthritis patients receiving injectable gold therapy were followed prospectively between April 1971 and April 1982. The mean total gold compound received was 1,392 mg in the young group and 1,861 in the elderly group. Besides age, the only significant difference between the two groups was the increased gold compound received by the elderly. To determine efficacy and toxicity within and between certain age groups, the 141 patients were divided into 4 arbitrary age groups: group A (<30 years), group B (30-44 years), group C (45-59 years), and group D (260 years). The elderly responded to the gold therapy as well as the young patients did, at any time frame examined after 3 months of therapy. There was no difference in clinical benefit among groups A, B, C, and D. Nine patients in the elderly group and 15 in the young group had therapy discontinued because of no response. This difference was not significant among the groups A, B, C, and D. There was no difference in outcome of individual toxicity between the elderly and the young groups, and no difference in frequency of toxicity between the age groups A, B, C, and D. Serious hematologic toxicity