Gout increases the risk of a range of cardiovascular diseases

Reference: March 2024 | Issue 3 | Vol 10 | Page 36

Patients with gout are 58 per cent more likely to develop a broad range of cardiovascular diseases (CVDs), including arrhythmias, ischaemic heart disease, valve diseases, thromboembolic diseases, and heart failure, according to a recent study. Females and those under the age of 45 who have gout were found to have an even higher relative risk.

The study, which has been published in the Lancet Rheumatology, was conducted by a team of UK and European researchers from the Universities of Oxford, UK; Glasgow, Scotland; and KU Leuven, Belgium. Investigators used primary and secondary electronic health records from the UK Clinical Practice Datalink, and analysed data from more than 152,000 individuals with gout, alongside more than 700,000 matched population controls. All patients in the gout cohort were aged 80 years or younger at diagnosis and free of CVD up to one year following their gout diagnosis.

The results found that people with gout had a significantly higher overall risk of CVD than those without the condition. In particular, women with gout had an 88 per cent higher relative risk of CVD compared to women without gout, while for men with gout, the risk of CVD was 49 per cent higher compared to males without the disorder.

A young person aged less than 49 years with gout had more than double the risk of CVD than a similarly aged person without gout, according to the results. Researchers say these new findings suggest that identifying and implementing strategies to reduce cardiovascular risk in people with gout should now be a priority, for both further research and clinical practice.

Lead senior author of the paper Dr Nathalie Conrad, Epidemiologist, Senior Research Fellow, and Principal Investigator at KU Leuven, Belgium, and Honorary Research Fellow at the Nuffield Department of Women’s and Reproductive Health at the University of Oxford, and the University of Glasgow, said: “The present results complement a now large body of evidence of substantial cardiovascular risks associated with gout, as well as other immune-mediated inflammatory conditions.

“To date, these conditions are less commonly considered in CVD prevention guidelines and risk scores, nor are there specific prevention measures for these patients. These data suggest this might need to change and the clinical community may need to consider CVD screening and prevention as an integral part of the management of gout.”

Patients with gout not only had higher risk of CVDs than matched controls in the study, but also had a higher body mass index and a higher prevalence of chronic kidney disease, dyslipidaemia, history of hypertension, obesity, and type 2 diabetes.

First author of the paper Dr Lyn D Ferguson, Consultant and Honorary Senior Clinical Lecturer, University of Glasgow, said: “This work highlights the importance of screening for and managing a range of CVDs in people with gout. Gout could be considered a metabolic condition and management should include addressing the heart and body weight alongside joints.”