Gout Doubles the Risk of Atrial Fibrillation in Older Adults

Aug 23, 2018

Findings from one of the few studies that have looked at the risk of arrhythmias related to gout in elderly patients.

Reference1. Singh JA, Cleveland JD. Gout and the risk of incident atrial fibrillation in older adults: a study of US Medicare data. RMD Open. 2018;4:e000712. doi: 10.1136/rmdopen-2018-000712.

Drs. Jasvinder Singh and John Cleveland at the University of Alabama at Birmingham found that atrial fibrillation (AF) is a significant problem for older patients with gout.¹ Scroll through the slides for the details of their study and the take-home points for physicians.

(Image credit: ©Radu Berkan/Shutterstock.com)

AF, atrial fibrillation.

Gout is very common; it affects nearly 4% of Americans. Gout is also associated with higher cardiovascular morbidity and mortality.

AF is by far the most common cardiac arrhythmia worldwide and increases the risk of mortality and stroke. Both gout and AF are more prevalent among the elderly.

AF, atrial fibrillation.

AF, atrial fibrillation; CAD, coronary artery disease; CI, confidence interval.

AF, atrial fibrillation

This study found that the crude incidence of AF was 4.3/100 person-years in patients with gout vs 1.6/100 in those without gout. Gout was independently associated with a 71% to 92% higher hazard/risk of incident AF in persons who were aged 65 years or older. Both men and women with gout are at higher risk for AF.

Medication adherence among patients with gout is poor: only 33% to 50% adhere to therapy over the long term. Since treatment adherence is poor, physicians need to provide follow-up and rigorous encouragement aimed at higher rates of compliance.