Gout

May 29, 2020

In this week's news roundup from Rheumatology Network we continue our series on gout. Last week we featured a discussion with Dr. John D. Fitzgerald focusing on ACR's new gout treatment guidelines and this week, we talk with Dr. Christopher Parker, chief of rheumatology at Austin Diagnostic Clinic in Texas. Dr. Parker addresses mythbusters and patient engagement.

May 22, 2020

In this week's news roundup, we highlight two studies that examine risks associated with biologics used to treat rheumatic disease. We also highlight the 2020 treatment guidelines for gout issued this week by the American College of Rheumatology. In today's video, we feature an interview with John D. Fitzgerald, M.D., Ph.D., chief of rheumatology at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center in Santa Monica. Dr. Fitzgerald served as the corresponding author of the guidelines.

May 19, 2020

The American College of Rheumatology has issued new treatment guidelines for gout strongly supporting a treat-to-target strategy for urate lowing therapy with a serum urate target of less than 6 mg/dl.

May 19, 2020

The American College of Rheumatology has updated its treatment guidelines for gout. The guideline includes 42 treatment recommendations, of which 16 are  now strongly recommended. They address standard treat-to-target urate lowering therapy, the use of allopurinol and more. In this slideshow, we highlight the 16 strongest recommendations. 

May 12, 2020

The rate of serious infections in people with gout, especially sepsis and pneumonia, is increasing, and certain patient characteristics and external factors are associated with both higher healthcare use and in-hospital mortality in these patients, according to one of the first U.S. studies to describe the epidemiology of hospitalized serious infections in gout.

March 26, 2020

Colchicine, a first-line treatment option for acute gout, is associated with an increased risk of adverse events, such as diarrhea and other gastrointestinal symptoms, but not serious adverse events, finds a newly published systematic review and meta-analysis.

March 17, 2020

A new study published in the February 5 issue of Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases finds that allopurinol and febuxostat are associated with about the same risk of hypersensitivity reactions, as compared to gout patients treated with colchicine. The risk is even higher for women and diabetes patients, the authors wrote.

February 05, 2020

Regardless of BMI level, having a genetic susceptibility for gout may be a stronger predictor of disease than weight, say researchers writing in Arthritis and Rheumatology this week.

December 20, 2019

Monosodium urate (MSU) deposits detected by dual-energy computed tomography (DECT) are common in patients with gout and are associated with higher coronary calcium scores, researchers recently reported in JAMA Cardiology.

December 20, 2019

The suggestion that DECT scans might add to our diagnostic ability to detect cardiac disease may be imprudent because we have tests at our disposal and have little need to increase diagnostic costs. Good clinical judgement, paying attention to traditional risk factors and to red flags, will increase the number of asymptomatic cardiac patients we choose to study with conventional methods.