Rheumatoid arthritis in Greece. Manifestations in different age groups.

A high frequency of anti-Ro (SSA) circulating antibodies and lack of HLA-DR4 association described recently in Greek rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients, prompted us to study their clinical and laboratory picture and compare it with that described in the literature. One hundred and ninety seven patients with definite or classical RA were divided into three groups A, B, and C with age at disease onset below 39, between 40 and 59, and above 60 years respectively. Disease duration below 5 and above 5 years resulted in further division of each group into subgroups 1 and 2. With few exceptions, there were no significant differences between the groups in terms of maximal articular index, lymphadenopathy, splenomegaly, hepatomegaly, frequency of rheumatoid nodules and lowest hematocrit, highest erythrocyte sedimentation rate, and C-reactive protein values. The presence of rheumatoid factor, antinuclear antibodies, cryoglobulins, and elevated levels of globulins, C3 and C4 in patients' sera were not significantly different among the groups. A statistically significant radiologic deterioration was observed with disease duration, common in all groups. Diffuse interstitial lung disease was the most common pulmonary abnormality noted. There were no differences between the groups. Penicillamine toxicity was independent of age and disease duration. This study suggests that the clinical picture of RA in Greece is similar to that in other populations and that there are no significant differences in general among its age groups.