ArticleRheumatology (Oxford, England)2006
Are rheumatologists' treatment decisions influenced by patients' age?
Article in Rheumatology (Oxford, England), 2006. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 37 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
37 citing papers in PubMed, 72 citations in OpenAlex.
- Robustness in Older Adults: A Concept Analysis Using Rodgers' Evolutionary Approach.Nursing & health sciences · 2026Review
- Insights Into Late-Onset Rheumatoid Arthritis (LORA): Characteristics (Clinical and Imaging), Comorbidities, and Therapeutic Targets.Geriatrics & gerontology international · 2026Review
- Ageism in Rheumatology: The Health Care Professional's Perspective.Arthritis care & research · 2025Article
- Ageism in Rheumatologic Care: Ensuring Equity and Quality for Older Adults.Arthritis care & research · 2025Article
- International overview on juvenile-, adult- and elderly-onset rheumatoid arthritis: The age at disease onset as a fundamental determinant of clinical presentation.Clinical rheumatology · 2025Article
- Understanding the multiple dimensions of ageing: 5Ms for the rheumatologist.The Lancet. Rheumatology · 2024Review
- A cross-sectional study of predictive factors of health literacy among rheumatoid arthritis patients in China.Frontiers in psychology · 2024Article
- Retention rate of biologic and targeted synthetic anti-rheumatic drugs in elderly rheumatoid arthritis patients: data from GISEA registry.Frontiers in medicine · 2024Article
- Initiation of Disease-Modifying Antirheumatic Drugs in Older Medicare Beneficiaries With New Diagnosis of Late-Onset Rheumatoid Arthritis.ACR open rheumatology · 2023Article
- Age-Related Cognitive Bias in the Assessment of Lateral Pinch Modulation by Occupational Therapists.Sensors (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
- Outcomes of Percutaneous Coronary Intervention in Elderly Patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis: A Nationwide Population-Based Cohort Study.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
- The effect of polypharmacy on rheumatoid and psoriatic arthritis treatment: retrospective study.PeerJ · 2023Article
- Late-onset rheumatoid arthritis registry study, LORIS study: study protocol and design.BMC rheumatology · 2022Article
- A Population-Based Study Evaluating Retention in Rheumatology Care Among Patients With Rheumatoid Arthritis.ACR open rheumatology · 2022Article
- Inflammatory profile of incident cases of late-onset compared with young-onset rheumatoid arthritis: A nested cohort study.Frontiers in medicine · 2022Article
- Therapeutic Recommendations for the Management of Older Adult Patients with Sjögren's Syndrome.Drugs & aging · 2021Review
- Efficacy and Safety of Etanercept in Elderly Patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis: A Post-Hoc Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials.Drugs & aging · 2019Article
- Patterns of the initiation of disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs in incident rheumatoid arthritis: a German perspective based on nationwide ambulatory drug prescription data.Rheumatology international · 2018Article
- Biologic treatment of Japanese patients with inflammatory bowel disease.BMC gastroenterology · 2018Article
- Pharmacotherapy Pearls in Rheumatology for the Care of Older Adult Patients: Focus on Oral Disease-Modifying Antirheumatic Drugs and the Newest Small Molecule Inhibitors.Rheumatic diseases clinics of North America · 2018Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
objectivesThe objective of this study was to determine whether physicians' treatment preferences are influenced by patients' age.
methodsWe mailed a survey to a random sample of rheumatologists practicing in the US. The survey included a scenario describing a hypothetical patient with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) on hydroxychloroquine, sulfasalazine and low-dose prednisolone, who presents with active disease during a follow-up appointment. The scenario was formulated in two versions that were identical except for the age of the patient. After reading the scenario, respondents were asked to rate (on a 10 cm numerical rating scale) their recommendations for each of the three options: (i) increasing the dose of prednisolone, (ii) adding a new disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drug (DMARD) and (iii) switching DMARDs. Rheumatologists who rated either adding a new DMARD or switching DMARDs higher than increasing the dose of prednisolone were classified as 'preferring aggressive treatment with DMARDs', while the others were classified as 'NOT preferring aggressive treatment with DMARDs'.
resultsA total of 480 rheumatologists were mailed a questionnaire; 204 responded, giving a response rate of 42.5%. Overall 163 (80%) respondents were classified as preferring aggressive treatment with DMARDs. Rheumatologists responding to this survey were more likely to prefer aggressive DMARD treatment for the young RA patient vs the older RA patient (87 vs 71%, P= 0.007).
conclusionsOur findings suggest that rheumatologists' treatment recommendations may be influenced by age. Future educational efforts should increase physician awareness of this possible bias in order to ensure equal service delivery across ages.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.