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Abstract
Many elderly patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) who have decreased physiological functions due to aging may also have symptoms of other complications. Therefore, attention must be paid not only to the efficacy, but also to any possible adverse reactions, when selecting disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs). In this study, we examined the efficacy and safety of actarit for elderly patients with mildly to moderately active rheumatism. Twenty patients with elderly rheumatoid arthritis were enrolled on a 48-week course of actarit (300 mg/day). In the overall evaluation, 14 out of 20 patients (70%) met the criteria for a 20% improvement in the American College of Rheumatology (ACR) core set, and seven out of 20 patients (35%) met the criteria for a 50% improvement. In the evaluation parameters, a significant improvement was shown in the number of swollen joints, the patient's evaluation of pain, the patient's evaluation of chronic arthritis activity, the doctor's evaluation of chronic arthritis activity, erythrocyte sedimentation rate, C-reactive protein (CRP), and Lansbury's activity index after 48 weeks. A particularly remarkable improvement was shown in tender and swollen joints in the small joint category in elderly onset RA. No adverse reactions and no aggravation of complications were observed in this study. From these results, it was concluded that actarit was a safe and highly effective drug for use with elderly patients.