Arthritis in the elderly.

Rheumatic diseases affect individuals of all ages. Both incidence and prevalence vary between age groups, and the diagnosis and management of the same rheumatic disease may be very different at the various ages. It is thus important to recognize the spectrum of rheumatic disorders in age-specific groups. The functional decline of cells, tissues and organs does not occur at the same rate in all individuals. This results in an increased variation with aging. It has important clinical consequences in the diagnosis of disease in the elderly with risk of both underdiagnosis and overdiagnosis. The increasing number of elderly, the high prevalence and the specific diagnostic and therapeutic problems of rheumatic disorders in the elderly call for some rheumatologists to focus an interest in geriatric rheumatology.