The Rheumatologist
COVID-19 NewsACR Convergence
  • Connect with us:
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • YouTube
  • Feed
  • Home
  • Conditions
    • Rheumatoid Arthritis
    • SLE (Lupus)
    • Crystal Arthritis
      • Gout Resource Center
    • Spondyloarthritis
    • Osteoarthritis
    • Soft Tissue Pain
    • Scleroderma
    • Vasculitis
    • Systemic Inflammatory Syndromes
    • Guidelines
  • Resource Centers
    • Axial Spondyloarthritis Resource Center
    • Gout Resource Center
    • Psoriatic Arthritis Resource Center
    • Rheumatoid Arthritis Resource Center
    • Systemic Lupus Erythematosus Resource Center
  • Drug Updates
    • Biologics & Biosimilars
    • DMARDs & Immunosuppressives
    • Topical Drugs
    • Analgesics
    • Safety
    • Pharma Co. News
  • Professional Topics
    • Ethics
    • Legal
    • Legislation & Advocacy
    • Career Development
      • Certification
      • Education & Training
    • Awards
    • Profiles
    • President’s Perspective
    • Rheuminations
    • Interprofessional Perspective
  • Practice Management
    • Billing/Coding
    • Quality Assurance/Improvement
    • Workforce
    • Facility
    • Patient Perspective
    • Electronic Health Records
    • Apps
    • Information Technology
    • From the College
    • Multimedia
      • Audio
      • Video
  • Resources
    • Issue Archives
    • ACR Convergence
      • Gout Resource Center
      • Axial Spondyloarthritis Resource Center
      • Psoriatic Arthritis
      • Abstracts
      • Meeting Reports
      • ACR Convergence Home
    • American College of Rheumatology
    • ACR ExamRheum
    • Research Reviews
    • ACR Journals
      • Arthritis & Rheumatology
      • Arthritis Care & Research
      • ACR Open Rheumatology
    • Rheumatology Image Library
    • Treatment Guidelines
    • Rheumatology Research Foundation
    • Events
  • About Us
    • Mission/Vision
    • Meet the Authors
    • Meet the Editors
    • Contribute to The Rheumatologist
    • Subscription
    • Contact
  • Advertise
  • Search
You are here: Home / Articles / Gout Treatment & Care Remain Suboptimal

Gout Treatment & Care Remain Suboptimal

September 12, 2016 • By Lara C. Pullen, PhD

  • Tweet
  • Email
Print-Friendly Version / Save PDF

ACR_GoutCrystals_500x270Patients with gout and rheumatoid arthritis (RA) experience strikingly different health outcomes. Although U.S. patients with RA have enjoyed improvements in care, gout care remains largely suboptimal. This difference is reflected in a new study that reveals that the U.S. has experienced large, but disparate, changes in the rate at which patients are hospitalized for gout and RA.

You Might Also Like
  • Prevalence of Gout and Hyperuricemia Increase in U.S.
  • Contemporary Prevalence of Gout & Hyperuricemia in the U.S.
  • Gout – Rheumatology’s Royal Pain
Also By This Author
  • Statins May Protect Against RA

Sian Yik Lim, MD, a rheumatology fellow at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, and colleagues published their analysis of hospitalization trends in the June 7 issue of JAMA.1 They documented gout and RA hospitalizations in the U.S. between 1993 and 2011. During this time, the annual hospitalization rate with a principal discharge diagnosis of RA declined from 13.9 to 4.6 per 100,000 U.S. adults. In contrast, the hospitalization rate for patients with gout increased from 4.4 to 8.8 per 100,000 U.S. adults. Likewise, from 2001–2011, the inflation-adjusted hospital costs per 100,000 U.S. adults with a principal discharge diagnosis of RA declined from $83,101 to $55,988, whereas the cost of gout increased from $34,457 to $58,003.

ad goes here:advert-1
ADVERTISEMENT
SCROLL TO CONTINUE

Thus, the researchers described a “very important trend between two really major arthritis conditions,” explains co-author Hyon K. Choi, MD, DrPH, director of the Gout and Crystal Arthropathy Center at Massachusetts General Hospital, in an interview with The Rheumatologist. “One disease is improving so much; the other is not,” he adds.

Gout Prevalence Is Increasing
The prevalence of both gout and hyperuricemia appears to have increased over the past two decades and may still be increasing. This increase is associated with increasing frequencies of adiposity and hypertension, as well as the increased use of diuretics. This worldwide trend has been documented in the U.K., New Zealand and in urban African communities and has reached the point that, from 2007–2008, 3.9% of U.S. adults were diagnosed with gout.2

ad goes here:advert-2
ADVERTISEMENT
SCROLL TO CONTINUE

Dr. Choi notes, however, that the increase in gout hospitalizations is even greater than the increase in gout prevalence that has been previously documented in epidemiological studies. He believes that this is because “gout care is so suboptimal that people are getting hospitalized for unnecessary reasons.”

Additionally, although RA care has substantially improved over the past years, there have been no real advances in gout care. Finally, while patients with RA are frequently treated by rheumatologists, patients with gout are often treated by primary care physicians. Thus, most of the allopurinol prescriptions are written by non-rheumatologists who do not closely follow the literature on the treatment of gout. All told, the data reveal clear shortcomings in gout care, prompting Dr. Choi to say, “We need to do better. … Our paper highlights the critical need to improve gout care and prevention.”

Pages: 1 2 | Single Page

Filed Under: Conditions, Crystal Arthritis Tagged With: cost, Gout, hospitalized, hyperuricemia, patient education, patient outcome, Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA), Treatment

You Might Also Like:
  • Prevalence of Gout and Hyperuricemia Increase in U.S.
  • Contemporary Prevalence of Gout & Hyperuricemia in the U.S.
  • Gout – Rheumatology’s Royal Pain
  • Do Women Receive Worse Gout Treatment Than Men?

Rheumatology Research Foundation

The Foundation is the largest private funding source for rheumatology research and training in the U.S.

Learn more »

ACR Convergence

Don’t miss rheumatology’s premier scientific meeting for anyone involved in research or the delivery of rheumatologic care or services.

Visit the ACR Convergence site »

Meeting Abstracts

Browse and search abstracts from the ACR Convergence and ACR/ARP Annual Meetings going back to 2012.

Visit the Abstracts site »

The Rheumatologist newsmagazine reports on issues and trends in the management and treatment of rheumatic diseases. The Rheumatologist reaches 11,500 rheumatologists, internists, orthopedic surgeons, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, nurses, and other healthcare professionals who practice, research, or teach in the field of rheumatology.

About Us / Contact Us / Advertise / Privacy Policy / Terms of Use / Cookie Preferences

  • Connect with us:
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • YouTube
  • Feed

Copyright © 2006–2023 American College of Rheumatology. All rights reserved.

ISSN 1931-3268 (print)
ISSN 1931-3209 (online)