Gout Epidemiology in the UK
Title: Gout epidemiology: results from the UK
General Practice Research Database, 1990-1999.
Authors: Mikuls TR, et al.
Publication: Ann Rheum Dis. 2005 Feb;64(2):267-72.
The authors wanted to examine gout and gout treatment in the
United Kingdom using a large national data from the UK General
Practice Research Database (1990 to 1999).
They found that overall gout incident remained relatively stable.
The low was 11.9 cases in 1991 and the high was 18 cases per 10,000
patient-year in 1994. Gout prevalence in was 1.4% generally and
7% in men over the age of 65.
Drugs used to treat gout remain constant, with exception of significant
decline in the use of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAIDs).
When compared with patients with osteoarthritis, patients with
gout were significantly more likely to have cardiovascular disease,
hypertension, diabetes, and chronic kidney failure. They are also
more likely to have used diuretics (medications that increases
the production and flow of urine out of the body) or cyclosporin
(an immunosuppressive drug used to prevent rejection of transplanted
organs) or both.
The authors concluded that although gout is common in the UK,
the incidence of gout seemed to be relatively stable there during
the 1990s.
