Rheumatoid arthritis and HIV-associated arthritis: Two sides of the same coin or different coins.

The relationship between rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-associated arthritis is a complex one that was first described more than three decades ago. There are many similarities and some differences in the clinical presentations of both diseases. In addition, treatment options and long-term monitoring can be challenging in the presence of both disorders, as HIV causes an immunocompromised state and medications used to treat RA are immunosuppressive. In this chapter, we discuss the clinical presentation and the use of conventional synthetic disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (csDMARDs) and biologic disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (bDMARDs) in the management of these conditions.