STUDY: Not just painful

JOURNAL: Family practice.; 2003 Aug;20(4) p9242

AUTHORS: Janssens H; Van De Lisdonk E

ABSTRACT: The aim of the study was to examine the relationship between gout on the one hand and cardiovascular diseases and cardiovascular risk indicators on the other.

---

COMMENTARY: Thirty-five percent of 261 gout patients and 26% of 522 controls

had one or more prevalent cardiovascular diseases.

Compared with controls, patients had a higher prevalence of hypertension (43%versus 18%), hypercholesterolaemia (14% versus 6%) and obesity (56% versus 30%). A total of 170 gout patients without prevalent cardiovascular diseases (compared with 340 controls) had a higher prevalence of hypertension (39% versus 14%), hypercholesterolaemia (8% versus 4%), diabetes mellitus (5% versus 1%) and obesity (52% versus 27%).

Gout was found to be associated with cardiovascular diseases and with cardiovascular risk indicators, without evidence of it being an independent risk indicator itself.

A gout attack should be an incentive to assess the cardiovascular risk profile, when a patient seeks medical help.

I always look at gout as being a warning signal that something else might be going on.